For the past 16 years, visitors to Halifax’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic may have noticed a quiet ginger cat around the decks of the CSS Acadia, but he recently went missing.
Now, he has returned home. Named ‘Erik the Red’, he is the museum’s unofficial mascot and. His caretaker and Acadia ship keeper, Steve Read, said he is very relieved to see him again.
Erik has a thyroid issue, and requires special food and medication twice a day. When he was last seen, he was wearing a collar and tag that gave his name, contact information, and read, ‘I know my way back home, please put me down’. According to reports, the collar had been lost.
The news that the feline was missing hit social media, and Read got plenty of calls. One was from a woman whose daughter had found a cat that she thought could be Erik – and her suspicions turned out to be true.
He was none the worse for wear, and except for being hungry and tired, he is reportedly in good shape.
It is hoped that, after a trip to the vet, Erik will soon be back to his official duty of ship’s rat patrol, and his unofficial one as museum mascot and good friend to the staff and crew.
While social media can help to bring a lost pet home, flyer printing companies can also play a part, creating promotional materials that can help to alert the public and, hopefully, get then home quickly.
