One year and 500 miles later, cat arrives back home

By Rory Reynolds

A CAT who disappeared and turned up in Plymouth more than a year later was finally reunited with its owner yesterday.

It is thought that Sampson – a large black and white cat – walked 500 miles to Plymouth after vanishing from his home in Penicuik in 2008.

Owner Linda was thrilled to see the nine-year-old pet after he toughed it out on the streets of the English port town for over a year.

Sampson was found after he was handed into a vet, who found a tracking chip in his neck and traced him back to Penicuik.

Linda says she’s thrilled to have him back, but will be keeping a watchful eye on him.

Edinburgh firm Eagle Couriers rescue lost tabby cat Sampson after he is found in Plymouth – 500 miles from home

By JENNA RAFFAELLI

A LONG lost cat has been found more than a year after he went missing – almost 500 miles away from his home.

Sampson, a large white and brown tabby cat, was handed into a vet centre in Plymouth, Devon – 478 miles away from his home in Penicuik, Midlothian.

The marauding moggie was identified by a microchip in his skin to the delight of owner Linda Jansen, the Assistant Science Curator at the National Library of Scotland, who will finally to be reunited with her beloved tabby tomorrow.

FOUND: Sampson

Overjoyed Linda, 45, said: “We thought we would never see him again but then on Sunday I got a call from a veterinary surgery in Plymouth.

“At first I was sceptical about whether or not it was him.

“But when the vet described him to me, I knew it was Sampson.”

Sanctuary

Linda and her two daughters Kirsten, 12, and Lauren, 16, told how they first rescued Sampson from a cat sanctuary in the Borders and discovered he was a loveable animal.

The cat spent hours watching people from the balcony and became a firm member of the family before he disappeared in March 2008, sparking a desperate hunt to find him.

He was last seen lounging in the garden when Linda had gone to work but when she returned, he was nowhere to be found.

Linda said: “He was such a character and really was the man of the house. It was so strange when he went missing and we couldn’t find him.”