Willow the cat disappeared from her home in Boulder, Colorado five years ago, only to turn up Wednesday in a Manhattan street. According to the New York Times, the cat will be returned to her family but the details of her 1,800-mile trek will probably remain a mystery.
Willow went missing after escaping from the Squires family in late 2006 when contractors left a door open during a home renovation. Jamie Squires told the New York Times she and her husband, Chris, had give up the cat for dead when she didn’t come home.
“There are tons of coyotes around here, and owls,” she explained. “We put out the ‘lost cat’ posters and the Craigslist thing, but we actually thought she’d been eaten by coyotes.”
So when the Squireses received a phone call about Willow from Animal Care and Control Wednesday, they were stunned. Executive Director Julie Bank explained that Willow had been found on East 20th Street by a man who took her to a shelter. She was then identified through a microchip she had implanted when she was a kitten.
When Chris and Jamie Squires were shown a picture of Willow, they recognized her instantly.
“All our pets are microchipped,” Jamie said. “If I could microchip my kids, I would.”
Bank said Willow was well-mannered and healthy, and probably hadn’t spent her years on the streets of Manhattan. While Animal Care arranges for her transportation back to Colorado, she may stay with a foster family in New York.
“The kids can’t wait to see her,” Jamie Squires said. “And we still have her little Christmas stocking.”
