Feline back in the fold
AFTER three months apart and a 4000km journey across the country, a ginger feline has been reunited with his owners.
Three months ago Luke and Bronte Hall, along with their cat Whiskers, moved from Western Australia to Toowoomba.
Mr Hall has worked on cattle stations across Australia for the past few years and had a job interview in town.
They stopped over in Winton, near Longreach, for few a few nights and the day before they were due to leave Whiskers went missing.
Mr Hall said Whiskers had gone wandering before but always come back.
“He always waltzes on home but this time he didn’t,” he said.
“We stayed an extra night hoping he would come back but he didn’t. It was hard to leave him.
“I had a job interview lined up so we just couldn’t stay any longer.”
The couple had given up any hope of seeing Whiskers again until the Longreach Veterinary Services phoned this week to let them know he had been handed in.
A traveller found Whiskers on the side of the road near Winton and taken him to the vet.
Thankfully Whiskers was micro-chipped so his family was able to be contacted.
“I was blown away, I couldn’t believe he was still alive and someone had been kind enough to hand him in,” he said.
“My wife was so stoked. He’s part of the family, we’ve had him three years.”
But once Mr Hall discovered Whiskers had been found, there was the question of how the cat would get from Longreach to Toowoomba.
He and his wife were contemplating selling something they owned to get the money to drive all the way out there.
But the Longreach Veterinary Services put a call out on its Facebook page to get him home.
The post was viewed thousands of times and hundreds of people shared the post to try
and find Whiskers a way back to his family.
A Longreach local drove Whiskers to Dalby on Wednesday and yesterday a family from Dalby drove Whiskers to his new home.
Mr Hall said he was amazed at the generosity of strangers.
“Within hours of the post going up on Facebook we had more than 10 offers of people trying to help,” he said.
“They say generosity is dying but clearly it isn’t.
“When Whiskers saw us he acted like nothing was going on but we were excited to see him.
“We are so thankful to have him back.”