Butters the cat turns up in California yard 12 years after vanishing. See happy reunion
A family that once lived in southern California got an unexpected reunion after Butters — their cat who went missing 12 years ago — randomly turned up in an animal control officer’s backyard.
Butters roamed through officer Dalton Churchwell’s backyard in Blythe, about 200 miles northeast of where the cat had gone missing, Riverside County Department of Animal Services said in an Oct. 10 news release.
Churchwell caught Butters and scanned him for a microchip, which showed the cat had gone missing from his San Diego home in 2011, officials said. The officer called Butters’ family to share the news that he’d found their long lost cat.
“It was just unbelievable,” Butters’ owner Angelo Castellino said in the release. “I’m so grateful to Officer Churchwell to have Butters identified.”
Though Castellino “can’t imagine” how Butters ended up hundreds of miles away from where they used to live, he said the cat had always been “adventurous,” the release said.
Castellino and his wife, Shelley, were eager to reunite Butters with his brother, Barnacles, but the family had since moved to Stanwood, Washington, officials said in the release.
So a longtime volunteer for a nonprofit organization within the Department of Animal Services flew him home, officials said.
Video posted to Riverside County Animal Services’ Facebook shows the happy owners reuniting with Butters at the Seattle airport. Shelley Castellino unzips the cat’s carrier, and Butters pops his head through the hole and meows as if to say hello, the video shows.
“Hi Butters,” she says as she holds her long-lost cat close and transfers him into a carrier she brought with Barnacles’ scent inside so the cats can get reacquainted, the video shows. “Cat transfer complete.”
Animal services reminded pet owners about the importance of microchipping pets and keeping the information up to date. That’s how the happy reunion was possible, after all.
Cat vanished during a thunderstorm 7 years ago. Now see sweet reunion with owner in Texas
Reunion 12 years in the making: Missing dog is ‘home at last,’ Arizona shelter says
Emaciated dog reunited with family after 10 years. Now she’s a ‘happy, wiggly mess’
