As we see over and over again, two of the most common times for a cat to go missing are after the family moves to a new home, or during a trip. Sometimes those missing cats find their way back where they came from. A new story has come along just as discussion has arisen over how cats are able to find their way home.
Giro disappeared in September, not long after after his family’s move across Christchurch, NZ, from Redcliffs, at the south end of the city, near the water, to Loburn, north of the city and somewhat inland, about 30 miles away.
Shortly after the move, Giro couldn’t be found after a strong storm. His guardian Amanda Boon is quoted by NZ TV3 saying, “We had a really nasty storm that rushed up the Canterbury coastline and Giro got a fright and took off. We called and called and put ads in the local school newsletter and what-have-you, but had no luck.”
Three months after the 18 month old cat’s disappearance, and two weeks before Christmas, Amanda was contacted by her former neighbors, who reported that Giro was back in the neighborhood and hiding under his old house, which is red-tagged as uninhabitable due to earthquake damage.
Earlier this month, the story of a cat named Holly’s came to light, prompting discussion of cats’ homing abilities. Holly was visiting the Daytona, FL speedway with her family in their motorhome last November when she was startled by fireworks, managed to escape, and took off into unfamiliar terrain. She hung around Daytona for a while, then walked toward home. Holly was found in a woman’s back yard about a mile from her West Palm beach, FL home, nearly two months after she’d gone missing.
We covered the story on January 9 in our post Lost Cat Walks 190 Miles Home, within a day or two of it hitting the local Florida news. After a popular run across media outlets, Holly’s story inspired a feature by Pam Belluck in the Well Pets subcategory of the New York Times Health/Science section, titled A Cat’s 200-Mile Trek Home Leaves Scientists Guessing. Ms. Belluch sought input on Holly’s journey and what it might say about the homing ability of cats, asking scientists in behavioral ecology, behavioral biology, and cat biology, as well as an animal behaviorist and the host of a popular television program about cats. One interesting and potentially significantly tidbit in the piece, provided by Holly’s guardian Bonnie Richter, is that Holly was born to a feral mother, who may have passed some innate street smarts on to her kitten, who has lived most of her life as a well cared for indoor cat.
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More impressive, even, than Holly’s story, is that of Jessie, who traversed the length of Australia to return to a kitty sibling and her old home in 2011. Jessie’s family moved across the continent, taking her with them but leaving her brother behind, where he was adopted by the new owners of their former home. The brother cat had gone missing and was presumed dead by the family, and only turned up three months after their move.
Jessie’s journey home covered about 1,900 miles, took 15 months, and required her to cross or circumvent some very difficult terrain. See Cat Walks 1900 Miles Back To Her Old Home and Jessie the cat’s amazing 1,900mi journey home to her brother; the real story. The second of the two stories on Jessie contains insight and information provided by the cat’s family. Jessie was allowed to remain at her old home with the sibling to whom she is so closely bonded. The pair are cared for by the current homeowners.
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