A CURIOUS cat stowed away on a boat in the Outer Hebrides and ended up 200 nautical miles away in Oban.
Now the hunt is on to find a free passage back to Leverburgh, Harris, for the feral moggy, which is one of the island’s top mousers. Having spent the weekend at Oban’s veterinary practice, after her unexpected arrival in town on Friday, the female feline was handed over to a local animal charity yesterday.
Jean Sutherland, of Argyll Animal Aid, said enquiries had confirmed Leverburgh was the cat’s home port and the local fishermen who feed the feral colony it belongs to, want her back. She said the cat hopped on board a small cruise boat which had called in to Harris on its return from a trip to St Kilda. She added: “We now have got to try and get it back to Harris, that is the bottom line. We need to find some kind soul to take it back up there.”
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Someone from Harris contacted the vets in Oban by Facebook, the fishermen want it backand we will get it back, the cat wants to get back to its colony.”
She added: “Cats do travel miles, they go in vans, they go in all sorts of things and can end up 500 miles away, I think that is why they have got nine lives.”
Prawn fisherman Neillie MacAulay said the cat was one of a colony in Harris that protected the boats. He said: “We used to be pestered with a lot of rats and we had a problem with them biting holes in the creels and leaving a terrible mess, but since the cats have been here the rats have gone. This one must have just gone on holiday to Oban.”
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He said there will be a fresh fish supper waiting for the moggy when it returns and added: “We fish forprawns, but we keep any fish we get for the cats, they are always hanging around waiting for us when wecome back in from sea, even though they are wild.”
John MacLennan, who has a garage workshop at Leverburgh, is another big fan of the cats. He said: “We would welcome this cat back, there must be about 15 of them and we have kittens appearing now, they come in and out of the building here and we feed them every day. “Most of them are nice, although they have a wild streak in them and they keep the mice and rats away.”
Cat lover Angela Hutchison, from Barcaldine, who boarded the boat in Oban to help catch the cat, said: “The boat had stopped at Harris and unbeknown to them the cat hopped on board. They were half way back to Oban when they realised there was a cat on board, they tried to feed it some chicken but realised it was quite feral.
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“I tried to corner it, I walked round the deck with it twice and couldn’t get it, but then it went down this hole, where the chain is attached to the anchor, and we managed to get it out and into a cage to get it to the vets.”
Oban vet Julie McGlynn said: “She was just a scared, shy, cat when she came in but she ate all her food and she now seems happy and healthy but you literally couldn’t put a hand on her.”
She added: “There are a few cats I have heard of that have got on a bus, but I have never known one get on a boat before.”
If you can offer the cat a lift back to Harris ring Jean Sutherland of Argyll Animal Aid on 01631 566406.
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