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Microchip Reunites Bushfire Affected Family With Cat

The importance of registering an animal and ensuring it is tagged and microchipped may not enter into the minds of many residents until they lose a pet.

By Latrobe City Council - 16th July 2009 - Back to News

Thanks to her decision to microchip her cat, Louise Mann and her family were reunited with Heidi; five months after she went missing in the Black Saturday bushfires.

"I was just amazed, we cried all day when she got returned to us. For me and the kids it was the worst thing that we lost the animals, for us it was that hard. We took months to get over their loss, so for her to come back is an absolute miracle," Mrs Mann said.

The Mann family unfortunately lost their other animals and home in Callignee, when the bushfires caught them off guard.

"We were so well prepared to defend our home; we never thought it would burn down.

"On Saturday 7 February, 2009, we locked our two cats and a dog in the laundry, then the house caught fire, we were waiting until it was safe to get out of the house, and my husband went to let the animals out we saw Heidi come out with us, and she took off and we never saw her again, both myself and my husband presumed she wouldn’t have survived."

"I got a phone call from staff at the pound who asked, ‘Are you missing a cat?’ They advised me they had Heidi. It brought back all the tears, we lost the other two pets, a cat and a dog, and it’s just amazing,"

It was Koornalla resident, Carol Beasley who fed and built up Heidi’s confidence for over a month before she was able to handle her to take her into the Latrobe City pound.

"I’d really like to thank Carol and Graeme for all their help. People like that are amazing," Mrs Mann added.

Ms Beasley said the cat was lucky to have been found and was very skinny when she first started feeding it at night.

"The pound was excellent, poor puss was beside herself, the cat had made it over two mountain ranges, survived on goodness knows what and I really didn’t want it to have to be euthanised, so I was prepared to adopt her if she wasn’t claimed. I really did not expect her to be owned by anyone, but then I got a phone call 30 minutes later saying the owner was found," Ms Beasley said.

Ms Beasley has also been feeding another cat which she believes might also have an owner.

"This is a wonderful story, and I am hoping the other cat is also microchipped; it is such a good thing to have pets microchipped and be able to reunite them with their owners," Ms Beasley said.

Latrobe City Council’s, senior local laws officer, Steve Wright believes stories like this could occur more often if all dog and cat owners’ microchipped and registered their pets.

"It is so important to ensure your dog or cat is microchipped and registered, not only because it is the law, but because it ensures that stories such as Mrs Mann’s happen. To encourage registrations Latrobe City Council has announced an amnesty throughout the rest of July, until the 14 August 2009 which gives owners the opportunity to register their pets without fear of fines for not registering them in the past.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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