Cat’s months-long adventure ends happily
Hermes travelled a long way to visit the RAPS Cat Sanctuary … but now he’s back home with his family months after they last saw him.
A notorious visitor to the RAPS Cat Sanctuary is back with his family at least six months after disappearing.
Well, Hermes didn’t really disappear … He trotted, apparently, from his home near Number 8 Road and River Road to the RAPS Cat Sanctuary, at least two miles away. There, he would stare into the Sanctuary at the hundreds of cats living at this “Kitty Club Med.”
RAPS staff and volunteers tried to catch the ginger visitor, but he is one smooth operator. Humans at the Sanctuary first noticed the cat (whose name we now know is Hermes) a year ago. This surprises Hardy Pohl, who said Hermes comes and goes from their rural property, but that he was never away for more than a day or two. This suggests Hermes was making quite a trek multiple times to visit the Sanctuary.
But, six months ago, Hermes stopped coming home. The Pohl family never gave up hope.
The RAPS team never gave up hope of catching Hermes, either, but he was too smart for us. We set humane traps around the site and had trail cams in place to follow his movements.
“He’s a brat,” says Shena Novotny, Adoption Centre and Cat Sanctuary Manager, with a laugh. “He would just spray all of the traps. We trapped him once but – and we saw it all on camera — he actually jimmied his paws through the trap, jiggled it open and let himself out.” Watch the crazy video below or here.
The fact that Hermes is not neutered probably accounts for his fixation with visiting the Sanctuary, she says. Among other vital outcomes, spaying and neutering animals reduces wandering. (People adopting cats from RAPS are required to commit to keeping the animal indoors or safely outdoors with a “catio,” on a leash or otherwise protected from wild animals, vehicles and other dangers.)
“When we first noticed him, he’d be in the driveway or at the back of the Sanctuary looking in the back gate at the cats,” says Shena. “We would go and see if he would let us come near him and we would get within maybe two to five feet and off he would trot fast enough that we couldn’t catch him. He was very smart with all the traps. We put all sorts of delicious foods in there, like chicken, a pizza slice, all different types of catnip and he would just smell from the outside and then spray the trap.”
Staff and volunteers became concerned recently when video footage indicated Hermes had a swollen front paw and was limping.
“We were trying even harder to get him, but we were just not successful,” she says.
Fortunately, a volunteer spotted a Craigslist ad with a picture of a missing cat that looked a lot like the orange boy hanging around the Sanctuary.
The next time the team saw Hermes, they called the Pohl family, who raced over right away.
“They were able to pretty much walk right up to him and pick him up,” Shena says.
Hardy Pohl said his family is thrilled to have Hermes back.
“My kids are 10 and 15 and they are delighted,” he says. “I never gave up.”
Hardy is still baffled that their cat wandered so far from home.
Back at home, Hermes is his regular chill self, Hardy says. Hardy sent along a photo of Hermes lounging.
“When you’ve got your belly up in the air like that, I don’t think you’re too worried about anything,” he says. “We are really grateful to have him back.”
