Luigi, a tuxedo cat who disappeared while aboard a B.C. ferry more than two weeks ago, is back in the arms of his owner.
Neelya Herbert was reunited with Luigi on Sunday after an exhaustive search for the feline that involved pet rescue society volunteers, a scent dog and B.C. Ferries workers scouring ships and terminal sites on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
The elusive feline was eventually discovered under a portable office at Tsawwassen terminal, and Herbert rushed from her home in Vernon to be reunited with him.
“I got the call at 10 in the morning, and I was in the car and leaving by 10:15,” she said, adding that “it was like the best feeling in the world” to know her cat was safe and sound.
“It was so good to hold him — he purred right away,” she said.
Luigi went missing on Aug. 9 after he managed to squeeze himself through the open rear window of the Herbert’s pickup truck while on the lower deck of the Coastal Celebration ferry.
The Herberts, who are from Vernon, had been married that weekend in Port Alberni and were catching the 10:15 a.m. sailing between Nanaimo’s Duke Point and Tsawwassen when the cat disappeared.
Herbert initially searched the ferry for two-year-old Luigi, whom she had adopted a year earlier. But neither Herbert nor ferry workers could find the cat, so she turned to social media, asking anyone for help in locating Luigi.
Her pleas caught the attention of Dyanne Jack and Karen Nixon from Halo’s Pet Rescue, who lead a group of volunteers dedicated to reuniting lost pets with their owners by using social media, volunteers and scent dogs, like Nixon’s Swiss Shepherd, Halo.
Nixon and Halo took the same ferry to Nanaimo, waited until all of the vehicles were off the vessel and then searched the entire ferry.
“Transport Canada will not allow searches when the vessel is in service, so we could only do it late at night in Nanaimo after the last sailing,” said Nixon.
“We are quite confident he isn’t there as there are limited hiding spots, thousands of humans and daily inspections,” Nixon said of her search. “While on my sailing, I witnessed countless humans talking about Luigi and walking around looking for him.”
Nixon said it was “heartbreaking” because it could have meant Luigi hitched a ride in another vehicle and could be anywhere.
Then, on Aug. 20, Nixon got a tip.
A cat matching Luigi’s description was spotted at Tsawwassen ferry terminal.
B.C. Ferries Commercial Services’ lead driver, Danny Lang, saw a black-and-white cat at the commercial services yard, hiding under a portable office at the site where ferries move tractor-trailer units on and off the vessels.
He left food for the cat in hopes of coaxing it out.
Lang contacted Nixon, who searched but was unable to find the elusive Luigi.
Then last Sunday, Jeff Meier, a commercial services driver for B.C. Ferries, who works with Lang, saw the cat again peering out from a hole in the protective covering around the office.
“I came in early Sunday and I saw the cat run under our office, where he’s been hiding,” said Meier. “I left out some food for him, did a couple of my duties and came back, and the plate was completely clean.
“He was only two feet away, and I was trying to coax him to come to me, but he got spooked and ran under where he’s been hiding. He was poking his head out, and that’s how I was able to get the photo.”
Meier texted his wife the photo of Luigi. She checked the photo posted to Facebook, confirmed it was indeed Luigi and then called Herbert in Vernon.
Nixon’s dog, Halo, confirmed that Luigi was under the office, and a trap was set.
But Luigi didn’t emerge until he heard the gentle voice of Herbert.
How Luigi made it off the ferry and over about 400 yards of pavement to the semitrailer yard is unknown.
The yard is between long-term and short-term parking on the south side of the Tsawwassen terminal.
“I don’t know how he made it [safely] over here,” said Meier. “I don’t know if he got off the boat right away and ran and hid, or if he did it at night when there wasn’t any traffic … it’s amazing,” said Meier, who has two cats of his own.
He said Herbert offered the ferry workers a reward, “but Danny and I didn’t want it … the reward for us was for Luigi just to go home.”
“We bought more cat food just in case it happens again. You never know.”
— With a file from Hannah Link
