Airports are huge places: it’s not somewhere you want to get lost, or lose anything valuable.
But last month, one family lost some precious cargo after landing in Boston: their cat, who escaped from her cage and went missing somewhere in the airport, leading to a weeks-long search.
But now, the evasive black cat has finally been found, much to everyone’s relief.
According to NBC Boston, Patty Sahli and her family were moving back to the US from Germany last month after living there for 15 years. Their 4-year-old pet black cat Rowdy came with them, flying in a cage in the plane’s cargo hold.
But when the family arrived at Boston’s Logan International Airport on June 24, they were informed by the German airliner Lufthansa that Rowdy was gone.
“I went to the cargo area and they said ‘Oh, do you have a black cat?’ [I said] ‘Yeah,’ and they said ‘Well, we don’t know where she is right now,'” Patty told NBC Boston.
“When they were moving her out of the cargo area, she got out of the cage and was chasing a bird and three of their workers went looking for her, chasing her, but they didn’t get her.”
Rowdy was known for getting into things and hiding in bags, so it wasn’t surprising that she was able to evade airport security. But as days and weeks passed, the family started to fear for the worst.
The airport began a widespread search, and while there were a few claimed sightings, the cat always seemed to evade capture.
But now, three weeks after she went missing, Rowdy has finally been found.
“Whether out of fatigue or hunger we’ll never know, but this morning she finally let herself be caught,” an airport spokesperson said in a statement, per AP.
After a health check, Rowdy was finally returned to her family, who was overjoyed to have her back against all odds. “I’m kind of in disbelief,” Patty said. “I thought, ‘What are the odds we’re actually going to get her back?’ But I got a call this morning and I am just so shocked.”
According to CBS News, the owner said she knew it wasn’t the airport staff’s responsibility to look for her cat — “Everyone has a job at the airport to do, and it’s not to be hunting a cat,” she said — but was happy to see all the airport employees came through for her and helped in the hunt.
“Everybody together, everybody was reporting stuff. People were checking the cages, people were checking the footage,” Patty said. “It was just a big community effort, and I can’t thank everybody enough.”
“Searching for Rowdy became a community effort, with everyone from construction workers to airline staff constantly on the lookout hoping for a positive outcome,” a Massport spokesperson said.
After three weeks wandering around the airport, Rowdy has finally made it to her destination.
“She looks great, is happy to be with people and I am sure will be happy to be reunited with us,” Patty wrote on Facebook, per NPR.
We’re so glad Rowdy is finally home safe and sound! We can’t imagine what this family went through wondering if their cat was safe for weeks. Thank you to everyone who helped look for her!
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