HOBART - Clyde the cat has had an emotional reunion with his owners in Tasmania after being found 3800km away in outback Queensland.
Ashleigh Sullivan, 19, said she had given up hope of ever seeing again the long-haired Himalayan she loved and lost three years ago from her family's propertyat Magra, 40km north of Hobart.
She said she could not believe it when a vet in Cloncurry, in far north Queensland, identified Clyde by his microchip and contacted her and her mother, Katrina Phillips.
A nurse in Cloncurry had passed Clyde on to local vet Donna Weber after caring for him for the past four months. She said Clyde had wandered into the Cloncurry Hospital grounds from a nearby caravan park.
Clyde, aged 4, was flown from Mt Isa to Hobart for the tearful reunion yesterday via Brisbane and Melbourne after Weber drove him the 120km to the airport on Tuesday.
Clyde, who appears to have been well fed, settled into his overjoyed owner's arms quickly yesterday.
Sullivan thinks Clyde remembers her and her mother.
"I'm positive he remembers, he's not acting like he's suddenly appeared somewhere and is frantic," she said.
"We are really happy with the way he is. He is very relaxed."
She thinks Clyde was accidentally taken away from Magra after getting into a traveller's vehicle.
