Emily the stowaway cat is getting star treatment after disappearing a month ago, only to turn up in a cargo container that was shipped across the ocean to France.
By the time the story of Lesley and Donny McElhiney’s wayward pet appeared on Friday in The Post-Crescent newspaper in Appleton, a version had been picked up by The Associated Press and transmitted around the world.
By Friday afternoon, the McElhineys had heard from a number of news media, including The Times of London and CBS’s Inside Edition. NBC’s Today show had a crew at the family’s door at 4am.
In France, photographers snapped photos of the tiger-striped cat, who seemed in fine health.
Workers at Raflatac, a laminating company in Nancy, France, had discovered the cat among the cargo.
”We received a container from Wisconsin full of bales of adhesive paper,” Raflatac spokesperson Christele Gozillon told The Times. ”We heard a cat meowing. It was a real surprise.”
The cat was wearing a tag, so the company called the McElhineys’ veterinarian with news that Emily had been found.
People at the French company are calling her ”Raflacat”.
”They are such sweet people to be willing to go through this with us,” Lesley McElhiney said on Friday evening.
The family was still trying to figure out how to get Emily home once she goes through a quarantine period. It seems their new-found fame might help.
Continental Airlines is trying to get in touch with the family to offer help, said Courtney Wilcox, a company spokesperson, but the airline hasn’t been able to speak with the family.
Dozens of other individuals have also offered help, in the form of cash or to serve as interpreters. — Sapa-AP