numskulled dies trying to save cat

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newsminer.com • Fairbanks man dies after falling from tree during feline rescue
FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks man who fell 25 feet while rescuing a cat stuck in a tree last month has died.

Joseph Fletcher’s family made the difficult decision to remove Fletcher’s breathing tube last weekend, daughter Rebecca Fletcher Bafus said. He died on Monday, according to an official at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center.

“It was not an easy decision for us,” Fletcher Bafus wrote in an e-mail update. “We all just want what is best for dad. We want to do what he would want us to do.”

Fletcher, 73 and co-owner of

J and E Trees, was attempting to rescue Sam, a gray Russian Blue cat, from a tall tree at Jenny and Terry Ray’s Birchwood Homes yard. Jenny Ray previously told the News-Miner that Fletcher wouldn’t even accept payment for the service.

After letting Sam down with a rope and pet carrier, Fletcher fell. He was transported to Anchorage, then to Harborview Medical Center. He had surgery to fix a torn aorta and mend broken ribs, and suffered a head injury.

Fletcher Bafus shared thoughtful words about her father.

“He loved his neighbors and home and living in Alaska,” she wrote. “He’s always lived a simple life and was not into materialistic things, but the importance of relationships, climbing big trees, picking his guitar, hunting his moose and being with friends and family.”