Reephdweller
04-30-2003, 03:12 AM
SEDALIA, Mo. - A cat was hungry and dirty but otherwise OK after hitching a 400-mile ride from Indianapolis to Sedalia on an 8-inch beam underneath a tractor-trailer.
The male Siamese cat was discovered Sunday after Chris Markley, a truck driver from Springdale, Ark., noticed a woman trying to flag him down. He pulled his rig into a parking lot and the woman pointed out a cat sitting on the fifth wheel frame under the trailer of his truck.
Markley told police the last time he had stopped before reaching Sedalia was at a truck stop off Interstate 65 south of Indianapolis.
Marilyn Bogard, animal control officer for the Sedalia Police Department, took the cat to the animal shelter Monday afternoon. The cat was only a little worse for wear with a case of the sniffles and a coating of grease.
"Poor baby. He's a sweetheart," said Bogard as the cat rubbed its head on her cheek, leaving a smear of grease. "He's well fed. He's just hungry because you ride from Indianapolis to here, and you'd be hungry too."
Nothing was holding the cat onto the 8-inch beam or protecting if from falling to the asphalt, according to a police report. The neutered cat is estimated to be six or seven years old.
"We've had them before get into the back of trucks, but to ride on something that narrow for that long a distance, that's pretty unusual," Bogard said.
Animal control officers in Indiana will help with the search for the cat's owners. If they don't come forward, the cat will be put up for adoption.
"We'll find him a good home, at least that's what we hope for," Bogard said. "We always like a good happy ending."
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The male Siamese cat was discovered Sunday after Chris Markley, a truck driver from Springdale, Ark., noticed a woman trying to flag him down. He pulled his rig into a parking lot and the woman pointed out a cat sitting on the fifth wheel frame under the trailer of his truck.
Markley told police the last time he had stopped before reaching Sedalia was at a truck stop off Interstate 65 south of Indianapolis.
Marilyn Bogard, animal control officer for the Sedalia Police Department, took the cat to the animal shelter Monday afternoon. The cat was only a little worse for wear with a case of the sniffles and a coating of grease.
"Poor baby. He's a sweetheart," said Bogard as the cat rubbed its head on her cheek, leaving a smear of grease. "He's well fed. He's just hungry because you ride from Indianapolis to here, and you'd be hungry too."
Nothing was holding the cat onto the 8-inch beam or protecting if from falling to the asphalt, according to a police report. The neutered cat is estimated to be six or seven years old.
"We've had them before get into the back of trucks, but to ride on something that narrow for that long a distance, that's pretty unusual," Bogard said.
Animal control officers in Indiana will help with the search for the cat's owners. If they don't come forward, the cat will be put up for adoption.
"We'll find him a good home, at least that's what we hope for," Bogard said. "We always like a good happy ending."
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