Stowaway cat hitches ride to Cape Town on car carrier

While lockdown restrictions have severely limited travel throughout the nation, they have done little to deter an adventurous kitty that hitched a ride on the back of a car carrier from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town.

An online plea to find the owners of the female tabby that found itself  transported to Cape Town almost two weeks ago has still not turned up any hope for the little stowaway to be reunited with its family.

In a July 3 post on the Tavcor Volkswagen Facebook page, it was established the tabby had found itself on a joyride with one of the car dealership’s carrier trucks, which left Port Elizabeth for Cape Town on June 24.

The post read: “Please help us to find this travelling kitty’s family.

 “This beautiful female tabby found herself on an unexpected ride on our car carrier which left Port Elizabeth for Cape Town last Saturday.

 “She is missing her family and we want to reunite her with them.

“If this is your kitty, or you know whose kitty it is, please contact Tears in Cape Town, 021-785-4482, to identify her, then let us know so we can bring her home.”

Tavcor Volkswagen spokesperson Bev Gaia confirmed on Wednesday that the cat’s owners had not yet been found and that it was still in the care of the Tears animal rescue centre in Cape Town.

“She must have jumped on the truck and somehow stayed on there  until it arrived in Cape Town,” Gaia said.

The post received 35,000 hits, with nearly 50 comments posted, she said.

“It goes to show that people in Port Elizabeth are animal lovers.”

Gaia said the cat had somehow stayed on the truck and had not been inside any of the cars loaded on the carrier.

Port Elizabeth animal rights activist Marizanne Kemp Ferreira, who had widely shared the post, said she had hoped the cat’s owners would have been found by now.

“The tragic part is that the owners are here in Port Elizabeth while the poor kitty is all the way in Cape Town,” Kemp Ferreira said.

At one stage it was thought the owners had been located, but after photographs were shared between them and the animal centre, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.

“Markings on her hind legs indicated that she was not the missing cat,” Kemp Ferreira said.

“If she was adopted she would have been sterilised, so we think she is someone’s pet and that maybe they have not been out looking for her — or they don’t have access to social media to see the plea for her owners to come forward.”

Kemp Ferreira said the cat had since been sterilised and that, if no owners came forward, she would be rehomed in Cape Town with help from Tears.

Tears director Marilyn Hoole could not be reached for comment.