A microchip helps another pet get HomeSafe
"Clyde", a Himalayan cat, was recently reunited with his owner after a mysterious three-year odyssey in which he strayed 2,400 miles (3,800 kilometres) into the Australian Outback.
Ashleigh Sullivan, 19, said she had given up hope of ever finding Clyde after he vanished from her family home near Hobart, Tasmania. A the time, he was about a year old.
"I'm positive he remembers [us]. He's not acting like he's suddenly appeared somewhere and is frantic," Sullivan said as she tearfully held her contented cat.
A nurse found Clyde wandering at a hospital in the remote Queensland state town of Cloncurry. She cared for him for four months before taking him to a local vet as she was leaving town and could not take the cat with her.
A vet traced Clyde's owner from the cat's microchip.
But no one has a clue how Clyde managed the 185-mile (300-kilometre) sea journey across the Bass Strait from Tasmania, off mainland Australia's southeast coast, and then about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometres) overland to Cloncurry, deep in the arid interior of the Outback.
An animal transport company returned the cat to Hobart for free.
"It's pretty special to have him back." Sullivan said. "I'm overwhelmed."
