A stray cat found in the Fredericton, N.B., area is set to be returned to her owner, two provinces away.
Birdie was brought into the Oromocto SPCA on Monday by a woman who had been feeding her periodically for the last few months and hoped to find her a home.
Jacob Kierstead, a summer student with the shelter, says Birdie’s microchip was scanned and to everyone’s surprise, they were given an address in Ottawa. It’s the first time he’s ever seen a stray make it to another province.
“There’s been cats that have travelled across the province, but never across provincial borders,” he said.
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Kierstead says microchip details will occasionally be out of date, but in this case, the surprised owner still lives in Ottawa and had no idea how Birdie ended up in the New Brunswick capital.
“They were pretty shocked,” Kierstead said.
“They had given up hope on finding their cat. It had been over a year since they lost her and definitely was shocked she came all the way down here.”
The SPCA was then left with the task of figuring out how to return Birdie back home. After a making Facebook post asking if anyone was driving that way in the coming weeks, they heard from a former foster who now lives in Ottawa but just happened to be in town and is heading back on Friday.
“It just so happened that a former foster parent lives just five minutes away from where the cat actually lives and they’re down here travelling visiting family right now, so they’re going to bring her home,” Kierstead said.
He says the story is a good reminder that microchips do work.
“It’s always a huge relief when we scan them and get a beep and have some information to go off of instead of making a post and hoping someone will be able to give us some information on,” he said.
And for Birdie, who is healthy and resting in Oromocto, it means she’ll finally be heading back home.
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