Cat Missing for Six Years Returns Home After Crash
Pandora, a black British Shorthair, was reunited with her owners after vanishing in 2020.
A cat named Pandora has been reunited with her owners six years after going missing in a car crash. Pandora, a black British Shorthair, vanished in 2020 during her family's move from Colchester to Scotland when the carrier she was in was thrown from their vehicle and its door opened.
Despite extensive searches and appeals by her owner, Mary Bowie of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, the family had little hope of finding Pandora. However, a stranger in Perth, approximately 120 miles away, noticed a stray cat repeatedly trying to enter her home and contacted the charity Cats Protection.
A volunteer with Cats Protection, Fiona Morrison, scanned the cat and found a working microchip, which led her to the Bowie family. Crucially, Mary and her husband Billy had updated Pandora's microchip details to their new address just two days before their relocation.
Mrs. Bowie described the emotional reunion, stating, "I could hear her say 'Cats Protection Perth,' but that's around ten miles away from Errol where we lost Pandora, so I didn't dare to hope. There were a lot of very happy tears that afternoon."
Cats Protection highlighted the incident as an example of why microchipping is vital, noting that over three million cats in the UK remain unchipped, significantly reducing their chances of being found if lost. Morrison, a volunteer for 26 years, called the reunion with Pandora "the highlight" of her time with the charity.