STOWAWAY CAT FOUND ON AUCKLAND TRUCK – THAT HAD TRAVELLED FROM PALMERSTON NORTH
Source: nzherald.co.nz (Extract)
Posted: July 21, 2020
One lucky feline was just a whisker away from death as she curled underneath a truck for a journey spanning up to 500km.
The green-eyed cat, understandably “shaken up” by the ordeal, was taken to the Auckland SPCA after she was found on a truck that had recently arrived from Palmerston North.
The animal charity put a call out on social media in an attempt to find the stowaway’s owners.
Despite being “obviously owned,” she was not microchipped and no one has yet come forward to claim her.
“This is why it’s so important to make sure your pets are microchipped!” SPCA said.
“No one wants their furry friend going through this sort of ordeal.”
Now recovering in foster care, the cat will be desexed, microchipped and put up for adoption if her owner isn’t found.
It’s not the first time a pet has decided to take a trip without its owner – a friendly tortoiseshell became a minor celebrity after she travelled far from home back in 2001.
Named after a port employee, “Colin’s Cat” lived at the tanker terminal in New Plymouth – which is how she ended up travelling to South Korea.
The epic voyage began when Colin’s (yes, that’s what they called her) was invited for a meal by a crew member on the Tomiwaka, a South Korean methanol tanker.
“Unfortunately, both of them fell asleep in his cabin – and by the time they woke up, the tanker had sailed,” Port Taranaki staff member Garth Stone told the New Zealand Shipping Gazette.
Initially, staff had hoped to transfer Colin’s to a ship travelling back to Taranaki, but the mission was deemed too dangerous. While at sea, her friends back home were given regular updates by the tanker’s captain, Chang Seong-mo.
On her arrival at the South Korean port of Yeosu, Colin’s was greeted like a celebrity by four Korean camera crews and Port Taranaki tanker terminal superintendent Gordon MacPherson.
Whiskers cat food shouted the pair a business class flight back to New Zealand, where Colin’s received a similar welcome.
The company also awarded her a lifetime supply of cat food. While Colin’s died in 2009, she is remembered with a memorial stone outside the tanker terminal.
