[Vision2020] Caturday (August 6, 2011)

Sat Aug 6 09:34:43 PDT 2011

Courtesy of the Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri) at:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1533018372/Animal-rescue-group-reunites-lo
st-tornado-cat-with-owner

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Animal rescue group reunites lost tornado cat with owner 

JOPLIN, Mo. - It was a long, hot wait in a darkened, tornado-splintered
neighborhood in central Joplin.

The women who were on an animal rescue mission weren't even sure that the
gray tabby they had caught was the same gray tabby that had been reported
missing from that neighborhood by his owner, Becky Ashcraft, after the May
22 tornado.

After more than an hour, Ashcraft finally arrived to see whether the tabby
was her Ducky. The women led her to the cat, who they hoped would be able to
go home that night after living for two months amid the rubble.

'YEAH'

As Ashcraft peered into the animal carrier, one of the women asked: "Is that
your baby?"

Overcome with emotion, Ashcraft could manage only one word before breaking
into tears: "Yeah."

The reunion was the bright spot on Tuesday night for the women, a group of
concerned residents who wanted to trap and rescue what they said could be
more than a dozen cats living in the rubble of the Hampshire Terrace
Apartments along 20th Street.

"I would hope that someone would do it for me," said Megan McLaughlin, who
has five dogs and two cats at her Oswego, Kan., home. "My animals are my
life."

McLaughlin, who helped organize the effort, said she thinks the cats are
neither feral animals nor strictly strays, but that they have been lost from
their owners since the tornado. Their glowing eyes, reflecting the beams of
a spotlight or flashlight, can often be seen peering out of the rubble at
night, she said.

"They have to be people's pets because they're waiting on the top floors of
these half-apartments," she said.

FOOD AND WATER

The cats have recently gotten help from nearby neighbors and workers. Lisa
Butler, of Webb City, said that since the weekend, she has set out food and
water daily for the cats underneath a coffee table she found in the rubble.

With the 100-degree heat and the apartment complex scheduled for demolition
soon, the women knew they had to move quickly. On Tuesday night, they set up
traps at the complex to try to capture some of the animals. They planned to
house any rescued cats themselves until they could find either the owners or
a permanent home for them.

By Wednesday morning, no other cats besides Ducky had been caught. But
McLaughlin said she refuses to give up. She said she and others in the
rescue group would likely continue to leave food and water out for lost
tornado animals and try to coax them out of the rubble.

"We will (continue) as long as we can," she said. "We'll continue to go
over."

Dan Pekarek, director of the Joplin Health Department, said an animal
control officer also was at the apartment complex Tuesday night. He said
such "targeted" trapping efforts by the department are winding down in
Joplin as debris is cleared and any leftover stray animals are slowly moving
out of the disaster area.

The department's normal trapping program, he said, is based on individual
residents' complaints. In those cases, traps are lent to residents, as
available, for use on their own property to catch stray animals, which are
taken to the Joplin Humane Society's Animal Adoption and Resource Center.

The center is not authorized to set traps itself, but traps are available
for residents' use for a refundable $30 deposit, said Executive Director
Karen Aquino. The shelter accepts stray animals that are trapped by
residents, she said.

'A SWEETHEART'

Ducky, a friendly gray cat, was the only critter captured Tuesday, and the
reunion was worth the effort, rescuers said. The group had nabbed him early
Tuesday night and kept him in a cage, and later in an animal carrier inside
an air-conditioned car, until Ashcraft could arrive to determine if he was
her missing cat.

Ashcraft was living at the Connecticut Pointe apartments at 20th Street and
Connecticut Avenue when the tornado struck, destroying the complex. Now
living in McCune, Kan., she hadn't seen Ducky since then.

He was noticeably thinner, she said, but he also was calm and apparently
happy to be back in his owner's arms.

"I didn't think he was dead; I just assumed that somebody had found him
because he's a sweetheart," she said, cradling Ducky. "This is great. I
appreciate it so much. I can't believe it."

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An amazed Becky Ashcraft cradles her cat, Ducky, on Tuesday after a rescue
group found the kitty and reunited him with his owner. That was more than 10
weeks after the two were separated in the May 22 tornado.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/archive/x541063405/g0002580000000000002c25b9c4d53
e3cb603c128d973e6219e61ff0eea.jpg

http://www.joplinglobe.com/archive/x541063405/g0002580000000000002c25b9c4d53
e3cb603c128d973e6219e61ff0eea.jpg

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho 

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