A little girl’s faith and a chance sighting in Bacchus Marsh led to a happy reunion between a Bannockburn family and their missing moggy after it travelled 70 kilometers in a rubbish skip.
The runaway family cat had climbed inside the skip outside the McCarthy family’s butchery shop last Thursday and was accidentally locked in.
It was 10-year-old Ava who took to social media campaign to spread the word to nearly 2000 followers that her five-month-old pet Elliott was missing via the hashtag #prayforelliott.
A day later the skip bin’s owner contacted the family saying she had spotted a cat running from a quarry that is used as a tip in Bacchus Marsh.
Mum Angie said the family searched the area around the quarry.
“We got a phone call at 3.15pm last Friday asking us if we’d happened to be missing a kitten,” she said.
“We raced up there to see if he would respond to us calling his name while searching the massive quarry but he didn’t.
“We rang all the vets and pounds and all the quarry workers knew what was going on too. We took Ava up there but seeing her crying broke our hearts.
“Our family is Christian so we just prayed to God for a sign. Ava is quite strong in her faith and that’s why she rallied her friends to pray for Elliot too.”
Spotted
The breakthrough came on Tuesday when a Bacchus Marsh woman recognised the cat from photo’s which had been shared on a lost pet’s Facebook page.
“A lady in the new estate built behind the quarry, about 70 kilometres away from where he disappeared, phoned on Tuesday and said she’d seen Elliott,” Mrs McCarthy says.
“She said he’d come in the night before, was quite persistent to come in, and she thought it was the neighbour’s cat so kept putting him back outside.
“It’s a miracle, we’re so thankful for all the animal lovers.”
Ava, who’s in year five at Bannockburn Primary School, says she jumped for joy when she heard the good news.
She said Elliott, named after her favourite Collingwood Football Club player Jamie Elliott, would now be kept close to home.
“It was great having everyone’s support online because everyone was using #prayforelliott.
“I’ll be telling his story to everyone now.”
