Lost in the cyclone but much-loved cat is back
A Hawke’s Bay family have been reunited with their cat more than a year after she went missing during Cyclone Gabrielle.
Jana Braga and her children were evacuated from their Greenmeadows home last year on February 14, taking with them 5-year-old cat Phoebe.
While moving between different places to stay in the aftermath of the disaster, the moggy was spooked while on a lead and slipped her collar in Ahuriri, Napier.
Jana’s husband, Paulo Baronceli, was isolated in Hastings away from his family that day in February 2023 while the bridges were closed but was reunited with his family that evening and joined efforts to find Phoebe.
“My wife has been quite relentless because she really, really loved that cat. If you look on Facebook, you could probably find hundreds of posts from her trying to get information or find the cat,” Baronceli said.
He said the posts slowed down when there hadn’t been progress after six months, but his wife decided to post again on the anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle, and soon afterwards, they had some news.
“She got a message from a lady
on Facebook who said she saw a cat living under a school in Marewa.”
They learned a woman had fed the cat matching Phoebe’s description for most of the past year. SPCA staff soon got involved and caught her using a cat trap.
A staff member was able to confirm her identity straight away by her microchip, the statement said.
SPCA Napier centre manager Joy Walker said microchips are vital in reuniting cats, dogs and horses with their owners after major disasters and the SPCA advocates for the mandatory use of them.
“Having that microchip was amazing, and we are grateful we were able to reunite Phoebe with her owner, who never gave up hope.”
Baronceli said the family had since moved to Waipukurau from Greenmeadows in Napier, so the cat was now settling into her new home after being reunited with them last week.
“She recognised us straight away — there was lots of crying in the SPCA.
“She has still been a little bit sketchy, [she’s] trying to understand what the hell happened,” Baronceli said.