Police trooper acts rapidly with commitment to catch escaping cat from car

I don't know why this Idaho state trooper was in this situation when a domestic cat in the back of a car escaped (update - I do now 👍: see their FB post below). And he stopped on the side of a freeway (a motorway in UK language). This would be the hard shoulder in the UK. This is a potentially dangerous place for both cat and trooper. Lucky, in a way, that the cat dived into the forest and not the other way onto the road. There is a question mark over why the cat was free inside the vehicle; not helpful and perhaps careless but maybe the cat escaped from a carrier.

Update: the FB post from the Idaho State Police tells us more. This is what the Facebook post says:

"Faster than a fleeing feline. And talk about a leap of faith! Trooper Llerenas fleet of foot kept a four-legged furball from dashing into a snowy North Idaho forest recently. A van traveling on I-90 has its side door come open and the Trooper saw several items fly onto the roadway. When the Trooper stopped the van, he found two people, two dogs, and a cat all inside. 

Turns out, both people were in possession of multiple controlled substances and eventually were booked into jail on drug charges. Local shelters took safe custody of the pets, and while Trooper Llerenas waited for the shelter folks to arrive, both dogs were as friendly as they could be. The cat, however, had other plans. 

When Mr. Kitty made a run for it, Trooper Llerenas also acted fast and caught the fleeing feline before the little critter could get lost or harmed. Trooper Llerenas said he literally took a “leap of faith” to catch the cat, and it worked! 

If you listen closely, however, after he catches Mr. Kitty and brings him safely back to the vehicle, Trooper Llerenas tells the feline that they were friends, but after the leap into the snow, maybe not so much. 😊 If this brought a smile to your face, feel free to share. And as always, thanks for your support."

Note: These are videos from other websites. They are embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it. There are two the same in case one goes kaput 👌.

It looks icy cold and there is snow everywhere. The conditions were hostile and this cat wanted to dive into the forest which would have been the end of him due to starvation and neglect. And I think that this state trooper realised that unless he acted super-quickly and grabbed the cat before it entered the forest, he would never see the cat again. 

It was a do or die moment and he did it. That's why his behaviour is, I think, very impressive at that moment. He was fully committed to catching the cat, there and then with no exceptions, with no possibility of failure. There was a lot of pressure on the guy to grab the cat successfully and only just made it.

Screenshot.

I don't know whether he caught the cat by the tail. It might have happened that way. It looks rather aggressive and dangerous for the cat but the circumstances dictated that this man went all out to grab the cat come what may.