A California couple lost their pet cat in Yellowstone National Park, a wilderness larger than some US states, and was devastated for two months, not knowing where he had gone.
However, their sad tale ended in the summer. After receiving a call from an animal welfare organisation informing them that their cat, Rayne Beau, had been located in Roseville, California, about 800 miles (1,287 km) away from Yellowstone, Benny and Susanne Anguiano were reunited with their missing pet last month.
When the couple went camping in the national park in June, something in the surrounding area spooked their cat. It was sixty days before they saw Rayne Beau again after he fled into the trees. They looked for him every day of the trip, leaving toys and sweets out in the hopes that he would come back, but they were unsuccessful.
“We had to leave without him,” Susanne Anguiano told KSBW. “That was the hardest day because I felt like I was abandoning him.”
Rayne Beau’s microchip turned valuable at the beginning of August.
The cat was discovered in Roseville at the local chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to a message the couple got from Pet Watch, a pet tracking service. Rayne Beau was taken to the shelter when a woman found him wandering the streets alone.
“He was really depleted,” said Susanne. “He probably didn’t have much energy left to go any farther.”
When Susanne originally posted their terrifying tale on Facebook, she said that the reason she hadn’t shared it sooner was because “it was too traumatic.”
It’s still unclear exactly how Rayne Beau got from Yellowstone to Roseville, 800 miles away, but the couple hopes that by telling their story, someone may come forward with information. The pair advised other pet owners to install trackers to prevent permanent pet loss in their KSBW interview.
Based on estimates from the American Veterinary Medical Association, 10 million dogs and cats are reported stolen or lost in the US each year. With a microchip, nearly two out of every five cats in shelters are reunited with their families, compared to just one in fifty cats who are adopted.
