Cat ends up in English village after 250-mile Channel hop

LONDON - A cat that crossed the Channel from France has come a long distance away from home after he was found 250 miles away in an English village.

Tommy, a 7-year-old ginger and white moggy, was spotted wandering near a canal at Cosgrove, Northants, by residents who reported him to the RSPCA.

Animal welfare workers found that he had a microchip registered to Orne, a district in Lower Normandy, and it also revealed his name and age, but had no telephone number.

RSPCA cat re-homer Sue Taft said she had received several calls from France, but none resulted in a successful lead.

“Workers at a French company which holds the microchip data have tried to trace the owner’s contact details from the address. But it’s an ex-directory number,” the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

“If only cats could talk!” she added.

It is also possible that Tommy hopped on a freight train destined for the Daventry rail terminal at Crick, Northants.

“It is really odd. We don’t know if someone came over with him from France but just yet hasn’t changed the microchip, or whether he came on holiday with someone and got lost,” RSPCA spokeswoman Sarah Hart said.

“He was found near a busy area of the canal so he could even have got off a canal boat - in which case he could have come from quite far a field.

“Tommy is a really lovely and friendly cat and we really want to see if we can find an owner,” she stated.

If no one comes forward he will have to be put into quarantine for six months before he can be re-homed. (ANI)