farscaper48 Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Total posts: 223 Location: New York Gender: Female |
 Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:31 pm
Post subject: Cat From Holland Reunited with Georgia Owner |
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Cat From Holland Reunited with Georgia Owner
December 31, 2009 - Suwanee, GA. Honey the cat ended up being reunited with her family for Christmas after somewhat of an international effort helped find her family. In October of this year Honey ended up in the Douglas County animal control shelter and it was discovered that she had a microchip but it was registered to someone in Holland but unfortunately the Douglas County shelter was not able to get a name or any information on the cat other than it was microchipped in Holland. So Honey (who was named Tulip at the shelter since she was from Holland) was placed up for adoption and was adopted by someone. "The lady that adopted her brought her back the next day because her vet said the cat was anemic and not in good health. said Pat Hooper, a volunteer that finds rescue for many of the Douglas County animals. It's hard enough finding placement for many of the kittens at the shelter especially in October when the shelters are still so filled with cats and kittens it's nearly impossible to find a rescue that will take an adult cat that is a few years old." Hooper added.
Since Honey had been returned she was scheduled for euthanasia. Hooper said she felt bad that the cat had come from Holland and now was going to be euthanized so she emailed out a plea to her list of no kill shelters and rescues and hoped for a "taker". Only one organization responded. "I saw that the cat was from Holland and had a chip and was scheduled for euthanasia and thought to myself, we can't let that happen. A cat has traveled all the way from Holland; we can't put it to sleep! She has to have an owner that cares about her because they flew her here to the states, said Joan Sammond, Executive Director of the Georgia SPCA, "Our adoption center was full at the time I received Pat's email but thought we'll take her and maybe try and do a little more research to find her owner." One of the Georgia SPCA's volunteers, Carmella Quinlan, took finding the cat's owner on as a project. She had a her friend who is from Holland help her. They were able to find out the town where the cat was chipped and the vet clinic that administered the chip but all the vet clinic had was a last name, address and the cat's real name which is Honey. The owners no longer resided at the address in Holland and after doing a search for the last name on the internet, no one in Georgia had that name. So it was back to square one.
"That's when we asked for the help from our friends in the media to help us out, Sammond said, "One of the news reporters that had been at our adoption center recently took an interest in the cat's story and said if we ever found the owner to call him." Well the Georgia SPCA didn't find the owner but hoped that he would help them out. "I figured the cat's owners had to be in the metro Atlanta area and if the tv station would do a story about the cat trying to find her home for the holidays maybe we could find them." Mark Pickard from 11 Alive news (WXIA) liked the idea and ran the story. No one called. Then a day later there was a call from a Holland resident! Apparently, someone from the Atlanta area saw the story online and emailed it to a friend in Holland. That person forwarded it to the Dutch media who broadcasted the story and someone in Holland saw the story, recognized the name and the cat and knew who the owners were and how to contact them. "We received the call at 6:30 in the morning and the person calling from Holland had seen the story on a Dutch broadcast and called with all the information we needed." Sammond said. We were then able to contact the owners, who lived in Douglasville, a family with 5 adopted children, Dad is in the army, and they all came to the Georgia SPCA's adoption center to pick up Honey. Apparently she slipped out of the house and went missing right around the time of the floods that hit the Douglas County area pretty hard. "We gave up looking for her and thought we would never see her again. said mom, Theresa Michalke, "We can't believe we found her alive! It makes it a very special Christmas though because my husband just got back from Kuwait and now Honey is back just in time for Christmas!"
See 11 Alive's news stories about Honey below:
The Mystery of Honey The Cat: From Holland, But Found In Georgia - 11Alive.com | WXIA | Atlanta, GA
http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=138951
The Amazing Conclusion To The Story Of Honey The Cat - 11Alive.com | WXIA | Atlanta, GA
http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=139023
The Dutch version of the conclusion:
Click here: L1 - nieuws en sport uit Limburg.
http://www.l1.nl/mediaplayer_landingpagina/_pid/links1/_rp_links1_landing/1_true/_rp_links1_lsvideoId/1_4307827
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Contact Information:
Joan Sammond, GA SPCA
Cell: (404) 308-6404
Email: joan@georgiaspca.org or petresQfoster@aol.com |
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That is such a great story!! So many people involved to save Honey, and she is safe at home again! 
