The Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, headquartered in Salisbury, MA, reunited a cat and his family this week, after five months. David and Lynn Ghesquiere thought they’d never see Gus again.
The couple and Gus were traveling back home to Manhattan from a trip to Nova Scotia in August, 2012 when they ran out of gas at a rest stop off of Route 495 in Merrimac, MA. Lynn lowered a window slightly to give Gus some air and prevent him from overheating in the hot car. In a mistake that likely haunted the Ghesquieres for the past five months, Gus was allowed to sit in the car outside of his carrier. As cats sometimes do, Gus managed to squeeze through the opening in the window and ran off into the woods.
Animal Control Officer Lisa Young-Carey of the Merrimac Police Department found Gus about a months ago, near Route 110, which follows the interstate through much of Northeastern, MA. He appeared to have been living on his own. The officer scanned the cat for a microchip, but didn’t find one. After she hadn’t located his family within a few weeks, Officer Young-Carey took him to MRFRS last Friday.
MRFRS conducted their own microchip scan, and located a chip, not between Gus’ shoulders, but further down his back, where it had migrated. Within a short time, the stunned and elated Ghesquieres heard from both the microchip company and the cat rescue group.
The couple came to Salisbury to pick up the two year old cat, and were reunited with him yesterday. Lynn is quoted in the Newburyport Daily News, telling Gus, “It’s such a blessing, I am telling you. We’re going to spoil you to bits, nothing bad is ever going to happen to you again.” Lynn also said she’d never take her eye off of him again.
MRFRS director Liz Pease praised the couple for making the trip from Manhattan to retrieve their cat, and for maintaining their commitment to him.
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MRFRS is on Facebook.
About the Organization:
MRFRS was founded in 1992 in response to growth in the feral or homeless cat population along the Merrimack River in Newburyport, MA. The MRFRS began a TNR program for those cats in 1992 with feeding stations where the cats are fed twice a day. In 2009, Zorro, the last feral cat from the colony, passed away. In 2010 the well known and highly regarded organization assisted cats in need in over 100 towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In its service area towns of Salisbury, Newburyport, Amesbury, Newbury, Byfield, West Newbury, MA and Seabrook, NH, they operate in a largely ”kitten-free” zone and therefore assist other communities in need of help with placing kittens. They have an open-admission, no-kill facility for their service area towns for kittens and adult cats.
