-
Source: ONE News -
Related
A pedigree cat, given up for dead more than a year ago, turned up safe and sound - thanks to the dogged determination of Blenheim "cat-whisperer" Beverley Thompson.
Simba, the three-year-old Tonkinese cat, disappeared from Blenheim on November 7 last year after flipping the latch on a window when owner Trish Martin came to Blenheim from her home in Takaka.
Martin was reunited with her beloved cat last week.
"It's a miracle," she said, clutching Simba tightly in her arms.
"I couldn't believe it when Bev phoned. I had several false alarms earlier in the year but this time Bev was convinced she had found him and as soon as I opened the door I knew it was him."
After an emotional meeting, the pair snuggled up to get reunited.
"I picked him up and he just cuddled into me all afternoon and rubbed his face against mine, I'm sure he knew who I was. It's such a happy, wonderful ending."
Martin contacted Thompson for help soon after Simba went missing.
Thompson, who founded Pet Link 20 years ago to search for missing pets, took up the case but after three months Martin had to return to her home in Takaka without Simba.
"I was absolutely devastated, it was the hardest thing to leave Blenheim with Simba still out there somewhere but Beverley promised me: `I will keep looking, I will find him'."
Thompson said she had "this strong feeling that Simba was out there somewhere".
Missing cat adverts were placed in a local newspaper, supermarkets, school newsletters, and at Wither Hills Farm Park and with the SPCA.
"We followed up all the leads but drew a blank every time," Thompson said.
"In rain, hail and snow we searched for a year and finally got a breakthrough early one morning when I sighted a sick cat at the dump a few weeks ago."
Convinced it was Simba, she did her best to trap the cat, which she could see had a bad leg injury, but only succeeded in catching every other healthy moggie in the neighbourhood.
In desperation she tried a special concoction of sardines and oil in cheesecloth and at last caught Simba.
Half-starving Simba was rushed off to the vet with a high temperature and leg wound where he had been bitten by another cat but was soon back safe and sound in Ms Martin's home in a luxury cage with heated electric blanket and soft music playing.
He made a quick recovery and gained weight, astounding experts who believed that a delicate, pedigree Tonkinese - a cross between a Burmese and a Siamese - would be unable to survive for so long in the wild.
Latest NZ News Video
-
ONE News Minute 9am update: May 26 (1:00)
-
Kids cough up $14m for Government (1:50)
-
Education ministry 'barbaric' (1:55)
