A cat who stowed away on a ship from China to Canada without food or water for 25 days is currently being nursed back to health through crowd-funding efforts, reports NTD.
What happened?
The cat was found in a shipping container carried by a cargo ship that sailed to Vancouver, Canada, from Shenzhen, China, which was then transported to the city of Prince George, according to the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC-SPCA).
How was the cat spotted?
The cat was found inside a 40-foot container that was delivered to an auto glass shop in the city of Prince George, the BC-SPCA said. It is unknown how the cat made its way onto the container.
While unloading the container, staff found shredded cardboard and styrofoam with bite marks up on edges of all the glass crates, Hartel told.
“They’re joking, like, there’s a big rat in here that chewed up all the Styrofoam, we’re laughing, we’re not even thinking it’s a cat.”
Hartel said when they had moved everything but the last two crates out of the container, they finally saw the cat.
How did it survive?
The release said the cat likely survived by licking condensation that formed on the walls of the shipping container.
“She was pretty [much] skin and bones,” said Cory Hartel, a foreman at the company that first found the cat.
The cat, nicknamed “Stowaway,” is being nursed back to health by BC-SPCA, who started a crowd-funding campaign for the six-year-old cat’s medical expenses.
Animal control officers contacted
Staff then contacted animal control officers, who captured the emaciated cat and took it to the North Cariboo District SPCA.
“We rushed her to the vet because she was in such poor condition that we knew she would require intensive veterinary care for an extended period of time to regain her strength,” Alex Share, district manager at SPCA North Cariboo District.
Stowaway weighed only 3.3 lbs when the vets received her. She was then quarantined, and is currently receiving medical care.
Estimated cost for treatment
Since Stowaway has no owner at the moment, the SPCA started raising money to pay for her medical expenses.
They estimated that the costs would be about CA$2,760 ($2,069), but donations have already come close to 10 times this amount.
BC-SPCA said Stowaway would need surgery, medication, vaccinations, regular health checks, and daily care to make a full recovery.
After the cat’s health recovers, she will go up for adoption, and several people have already expressed interested.
Emily too survived a 30 day trapped cargo journey
Surprisingly, this is not the first time a cat has survived an ocean journey stuck in a cargo crate. A cat was similarly locked in a cargo container while in the United States, and the shipped to France back in 2005.
The cat, named Emily, survived an even longer journey of 30 days, without food or water. It may have also survived by licking water from the container’s metal walls. The cat was returned back to its U.S. owners after it was found in France.
Did you subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: NTD
