A Christchurch cat might just be New Zealand’s
most adventurous feline, after completing a 50km,
three-month journey back to his old home.
Giro took off from his new Loburn home
in the North Canterbury suburb of Loburn last year,
after his owners moved from Redcliffs.
Amanda Boon thought that all hope was lost when she
couldn’t find the 18-month-old cat after a strong
storm.
“We had a really nasty storm that rushed up the Canterbury
coastline and Giro got a fright and took off,” she says.
“We called and called and put ads in the local school
newsletter and what-have-you, but had no luck.”
Nearly three months later, the new owners of the
Boons’ old home called with a miraculous discovery.
“They rang two weeks before Christmas to say, ‘You’ll
never guess what, we’ve found the cat',” Ms Boon says.
But Giro was scarred from the trip and it took another
three weeks to coerce out him from under the house.
Ms Boon says she could hardly believe Giro had made it,
especially as he would have had to cross the Ashley and Waimakariri
rivers.
“He’d have to be quick to get over the bridges, there’s a
lot of traffic and logging trucks going over those things,” she
says.
“I have no idea [how it happened], it is just a truly
remarkable story.
“Maybe he was doing the coast to coast!”
Food would have been a challenge too, but Ms
Boon insists Giro was quite the hunter.
“He doesn’t eat native birds, but he does bring in a few
mice and rats,” she says. “I would imagine those baby bunnies would
be easy prey for cats, too.”
With Giro back home, the family is overjoyed to be
reunited with their intrepid adventurer.
“The kids were really really excited to have him home
again,” Ms Boon says. “He’d left a bit of a hole for them.”
But Giro may still have a bit of a travel bug, as he’s
already disappeared once since returning home.
“We had a really strong nor’west storm and he got out,” Ms
Boon says.
“The next day I knew he’d been gone overnight. But then he
just walked in through the window like he’d never left.
“So I’m not that worried about him anymore, he can come
and go as he pleases.”
Ms Boon concedes a GPS chip may be a good investment for
the future.
