Nov. 7 (UPI) — A Washington state couple’s cat went on an incredible journey when he wandered into a shipping container and ended up at a Home Depot store 2,500 miles away in Alaska.
Christina and Josh Clevenger said their tuxedo cat, Panda, wandered away from their Thurston County home and they spent more than a week searching the neighborhood and posting alerts online in the hopes of finding their wayward pet.
The couple were shocked when a photo posted to a Seattle lost pets group on Facebook revealed Panda had turned up at a Home Depot store in Kenai.
It turned out Panda had apparently hitched a ride in a mail truck or similar vehicle and ended up at a transit center in Rochester, Wash., where he wandered into the shipping container bound for the Kenai store.
An employee at the store took Panda to a local veterinarian, where he was given a microchip and received clearance to fly home.
United Angels, a Washington state nonprofit that raises money for pets with medical emergencies, helped coordinate Panda’s flight home, which was provided free of charge by Grant Aviation.
Panda’s owners said he is settling back in at home and recovering from the approximately 10 days he spent trapped in the shipping container.
