Long-thought dead, lost cat found alive 9 years after going missing 1,600 km away from home
Lost California cat found over 1,000 miles away in Idaho nine years after it disappeared
A California woman was taken by surprise when she received a call from Idaho informing her lost cat had been found nine years after it disappeared. Clovis resident Susan Moore said her cat, Harriet, went missing nine years ago and her husband, Brian Ellison, speculated the feline had been killed by a coyote.
On September 19, the owner got a call from the Kootenai Humane Society saying her cat — long theorised to be dead — was found wandering the streets of Hayden, Idaho.
The animal shelter was able to contact her — more than 1,600 km (over 1,000) miles away in Clovis — using her contact information in the feline’s microchip.
“I wish she could talk because I’d like to know how the heck that cat got all the way to Idaho,” Moore told the Washington Post.
She had originally planned to get her brother, who lives in the state, to pick Harriet up from the shelter but got cold feet thinking the cat might not remember her, or worse, wouldn’t be able to return to her new adoptive family.
Maureen Wright, 75, a volunteer at the facility, asked the owner if she could bring the cat to her home since she was getting along well with her dogs.
Moore gave Wright her blessing.
“She’s beautiful, regal, and just an absolute lover,” the caretaker said. “So, she has a home with me for the rest of her life. She’s off the market.”
