Pregnant rescue cat found after 11-day search at Ottawa airport

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After rescuers hunted high and low for a small, scared, pregnant cat for nearly two weeks, Donna MacRae received the phone call of a lifetime.

MacRae, of Furry Tales Cat Rescue, says a team of expert cat rescuers had searched “high and low” for Athena, a brown tabby who was rescued from a landfill in northern Manitoba, but managed to escape her carrier after landing at the Ottawa airport on March 21.

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The team had received a tip that a cat had been spotted at one of the airport’s fuel buildings, a restricted area where the cat hunters couldn’t access.

“Lo and behold, my phone started ringing this morning at 2:30 a.m.,” MacRae said in an interview Tuesday, adding a night worker named Blake Fawcett managed to trap Athena after he spotted the cat on security footage.

“I’m still in shock,” MacRae says. “I was in tears, I’ve been crying all morning.”

Krista Kealey, vice-president of communications and public affairs for the Ottawa International Airport Authority, said Fawcett doesn’t work for the airport, but rather the company in charge of refuelling aircrafts. He had seen the information about the missing cat, and took it upon himself to bring in a carrier and food to try to lure her out of hiding, she said.

“We were happy to support the volunteer efforts to find her, but very relieved and thrilled there’s a happy outcome for Athena,” she said via email. “We’re also very grateful for Blake’s proactivity and efforts to find her safe and sound.”

Attempts to reach Fawcett were not successful Tuesday, but Janice Richard, the lead trapper who clocked 13-hour overnight shifts searching for Athena, says he’s nothing short of a hero.

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“I can’t wait to meet him,” she said Tuesday. “He’s a hero.”

Richard, an experienced cat searcher and trapper, led a team of volunteers in the hunt for Athena, including a particularly vocal cat named Boots, whose loud meows were used in an attempt to lure Athena out of hiding.

“I just wasn’t going to give up on her, that’s for sure,” Richard said.

Richard and the team worked long hours, setting up traps and equipment, but Richard says airport staff were instrumental in their search efforts.

“They really came through,” she said, “I can’t say enough good things about them. They were so supportive; if I walked through the airport, they were asking for an update. They were just fabulous.”

Athena is currently resting and preparing to go to a foster home after a visit to the vet. Richard calls the small tabby “adorable” and a “survivor,” adding she expected her to be in worse shape after living rough for nearly two weeks.

“She was starving, very hungry,” she said. “Right now she’s sound asleep, as she probably hasn’t slept in days.”

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