WHEN a pet goes missing, owners often fear the worst, especially in vast wilderness areas like Yellowstone National Park in the United States.
For one California couple, the unimaginable apparently became real after their cat covered an astonishing distance to find his way back.
But did their feline friend really traverse 1,287 kilometres to make it home?
Verdict:
TRUE
Yes, a cat named Rayne Beau indeed travelled 1,287km to reunite with his owners.
For two months, a California couple, Benny and Susanne Anguiano, were heartbroken, worrying about their missing cat after losing him in Yellowstone National Park, a wilderness larger than some US states.
In June, the couple went camping in the national park, where their cat was startled by something in the wilderness and ran into the trees. They searched every day, laying out treats and toys in hopes he’d return, but without success.
“We had to leave without him,” Susanne Anguiano told KSBW. “That was the hardest day because I felt like I was abandoning him.”
Their luck changed in early August when Rayne Beau’s microchip came in handy.
The couple received a message from Pet Watch, a pet-tracking service, indicating that their cat had been found in Roseville, California, at the local branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
A woman had discovered Rayne Beau alone in the street and brought him to the shelter.
“He was really depleted,” said Susanne. “He probably didn’t have much energy left to go any farther.”
Susanne first shared their rollercoaster story on Facebook, explaining that she hadn’t told it earlier because “it was too traumatic.”
Exactly how Rayne Beau travelled the 1,287km across three state lines to get from Yellowstone, Wyoming to Roseville, California still is a mystery.
This isn’t the first time an intrepid feline has braved great distances (and not even the longest distance!) to get back to their preferred humans.
Howie, a Persian cat, walked some 1,600km to get back to his family in 1978. His family went on an extended vacation overseas and had left him with a relative who lived in Gold Coast, Queensland.
While they were away, Howie decided he would rather be home so he trekked 1,600km through Australia’s harsh outback to get to his home in Adelaide. The journey took him about a year to complete.
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