By Sarah Glover of NBC10 Philadelphia. Story found here.

Luigi Malo with his new cat named “Bronco.”

A black Tuxedo cat spent two weeks stuck in a tree at Robert Urban Recreational Fields in Delaware County. Kids playing soccer on the nearby fields took note of the stuck feline.

“Everyone tried to get him down. I would go to the field every day before work to try,” said Susan Raikowski who frequents the park to watch her grandson play soccer. “The police came out and a rescue, but it was the Garden City Fire House that got him down after two weeks.”

Raikowski’s grandson Luigi Malo, 11, plays on the 11 and under Nether Providence Broncos soccer team. The entire team grew fond of the cat.

“The cat inspired confidence in our team. We won some of our games while he was in the tree,” said Malo. “When we looked up in the tree, he gave us confidence to play our best.”

The soccer team decided to name him “Bronco” and make him the team mascot.

According to Raikowski, the fire department said the cat was originally at 25 feet, then climbed up to over 60 feet during the first attempts to get him down. The cat was nicknamed “climber” by the Delco SPCA for that reason.

After being rescued, the cat ended up at the no-kill shelter and was monitored for a week to give one paw time to heal. Justina Calgiano of the Delco SPCA said the adoption process is normally first come, first serve but that in this case the Raikowski family was the best fit.

Today, he was adopted by the Raikowskis for $40 because of a 50 percent off Facebook special run by the shelter. The adoption cost included neuter, microchip and first veterinary visit.

“Once he gets used to everybody, we are going to put a leash on him and take him to a game as our mascot,” said Malo.

Dayna Villa, Director of Operations at the Delaware County SPCA recently received the most widely recognized certification in the profession of dog training.

Villa, a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT) for two years, received the skills assessed (KSA) portion of her training certification on May 22. While the initial CPDT level is designed to assess the knowledge deemed necessary by animal training experts for an entry-level dog trainer, which involves testing the general knowledge of animal training and the application of training techniques, in the skills assessed (KSA) examination, the training professional must demonstrate the skills necessary to train animals and teach others to train their animals.

The skills assessed evaluation is offered twice a year. As of the last time the skills assessed test was offered, there were only 58 CPDT-KSAs worldwide.

Minimum requirements to take the certification exam includes at least 300 hours experience in dog training within a five year period, and 225 hours (75%) of experience must be actual teaching hours (group class, private lessons) as a Head Trainer or Instructor. Seventy-five hours (25%) of experience can be in other related areas such as working with shelter animals, assisting in classes, working as a veterinary technician or groomer.

Villa oversees the behavior evaluations of all dogs placed up for adoption at the Delco SPCA.