A grey nomad couple are being congratulated for their role in bringing a happy ending to the story wandering Whiskers, the ginger tomcat who went missing for three months in outback Queensland.
Whiskers went into the wild after escaping during a breakdown drama near Winton. His owner, Luke Hall and partner were caravanning across from Western Australia to re-locate to Toowoomba when a mechanical misfire set in motion a series of unfortunate events.
“Whiskers got a little restless and he made his way out the fly wire in the middle of the night,” Mr Hall told the ABC. “I woke up to him leaving, so I jumped out and tried to get him, but he was just too skittish and ran off … it was just all long grass and you can never find a ginger cat in long dry grass.”
After waiting around for a day or two for Whiskers to make his way back to camp, Mr Hall reluctantly faced the fact that he would probably never see his cat again and made the heartbreaking decision to continue his journey.
And that appeared to be that … until animal-loving grey nomads entered the scene earlier this week. They were immediately intrigued by the friendly feline and eventually took him to the nearest vet in Longreach. There, his microchip was scanned and Whiskers was on the road to reunion.
Laura Axsentieff from Longreach Veterinary Services said the story highlighted just how important it was for people to microchip pets, and she had high praise for the grey nomad ‘heroes’ of the story.
“Whiskers turned up at a traveller’s campsite at a truck stop at Winton and was drinking out of their dog bowl for a few days,” she said. “The cat is in fantastic condition so I think tourists must have been looking after him, and he’s so friendly, cuddly and smoochy it’s no wonder!”
The heartwarming tale of human kindness doesn’t end there tough. A Facebook appeal for help in getting Whiskers from Longreach back to his family in Toowoomba was seen by 60,000 people and shared more than 600 times.
Whiskers was eventually driven from Longreach to Dalby by some travellers, and then handed off to others for the last stint from Dalby to Toowoomba … and a tear-jerking reunion.
“A lot of people say there aren’t good people in this world, but it just goes to show there’s so many good people left in this world,” said Whiskers’ owner Luke Hall. “People were offering plane tickets and all kinds of things … there’s still people out there who don’t even know you from a bar of soap and are willing to bend over backwards for you.”
However, despite finally getting to cuddle his runaway cat again, it wasn’t all good news for Mr Hall.
“I’ll be kicked off the bed now because my partner will be in with Whiskers every night,” he said. “I’ll have to sleep on the couch for the first few nights I think.”
Great, great story – well done to all involved, even Whiskers for staying alive long enough to be reunited with Mum and Dad.