The hard-to-watch moment a cat rescue didn't go to plan has gone viral online, as the cat tumbled full-force into the ground and missed the safety blanket.

Resident Jessica Fitch shared the video she captured over a year ago of what seemed likely to be a happy ending. Instead, Fitch captured the cat being knocked out of the tree by firefighters, only to fall straight to the ground.

The video, viewed over 3 million times, showed various firefighters attempting to bring the cat down to safety, with one holding a ladder and another appearing to shake branches in a bid to remove the cat.

Several individuals, notably not in firefighter uniforms, held out a safety blanket. Of course, the aim of the blanket was to catch the cat as it fell down from the height, but it didn't fit its purpose.

Another video uploaded by Fitch showed the firefighters pulling the large ladder from the back of their truck, in preparation for the rescue. "They had been trying to get the poor cat down for hours," she explained in the caption.

Despite words of encouragement from those behind the camera, the cat simply dropped straight onto the grass in the front yard, missing the blanket completely.

"What a CATastrophe," Fitch comedically captioned the clip.

"You had one job," joked one TikTok user.

The video can also be seen in full here.

what a CATastrophe (psa i believe the cat was fine) #fyp #foryoupage

Fitch confirmed in the caption that she believed the cat to be okay, and this was backed up by the cat's alleged owner in a comment responded to by Fitch.

"The cat was fine. He is my cat Simba, he'd been stuck there for nearly a week," wrote Amelia Davis.

"Glad the cat is okay! I've had this in my camera roll for ages and my friends said it would go viral," wrote Fitch.

Reply to @ssgeorgess2278 more footage from THAT video - they had been trying to get the poor cat down for hours

It's unsurprising that the cat was ultimately fine from the fall as cats are recognized to have an innate ability to land on all fours. The ability is called the righting reflex, which allows cats to determine up and down mid-fall and move their body to land on all fours.

Cats use their inner ear balance systems to work out which way is up, and then adjust their head in the right direction. Thanks to their flexibly backbones, they are then able to twist the rest of their body to follow suit.

Unlike humans, cats are actually less likely to suffer injuries from a higher fall, as it's believed to give them more time to adjust themselves. A 1987 study by the New York City Animal Medical Center looked at records of cat falls and found that those who fell from between seven and 32 stories suffered less injures than those who fell between two and six.

It's believed that once cats reach their maximum velocity of 60 miles per hour, they essentially turn their body into its very own parachute too, stretching out to create air resistance.

In February, another cat went viral for his tree escapades, although somewhat less traumatizing.

A ginger tom, called Magnus, appeared to find safety high up in the branches of a tree after "starting a fight" with a magpie. With the bird safely out of reach, Magnus' owner documented the hilarious surrender.

The on-screen caption says: "When you start a fight that you can't finish." And they then clarified who won the stand-off, adding: "Magpie 1 Magnus 0."

According to his owner, Magnus once went after the bird and its babies, and they hadn't forgotten about it since.

Update 3/3/22, 7:14 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information, pictures and video.

Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters