LA cat hunkers down in Everglades

NAPLES, Fla., July 21 (UPI) -- A woman who rescued a California cat stranded along Florida's famed Alligator Alley highway says she was amazed the animal hadn't been turned in to a snack.

An animal advocate from Naples, said two of her colleagues found Sam waiting patiently at the scene of a traffic accident involving its owner that occurred two days earlier in the heart of the perilous Everglades.

"With everything that's out there, the snakes, gators and turkey vultures, I'm shocked that he survived," cat advocate Camile Loge told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Sam's ordeal began Monday when a van driven by owner Nikki Saltzburg collided with another vehicle on Interstate 75 as she was moving from from Los Angeles to Miami. The crash sent Sam's crate flying into the bushes where it broke open. Sam was no where to be found when emergency crews took the motorists to the hospital.

Loge and other animal lovers heard about Sam and put out the word that there was a feline in trouble somewhere in the swamps. Kathleen Sullivan, who runs a Naples cat sanctuary, drove out to the crash site with her husband and found Sam hanging out in the brush.

Loge is looking after Sam until Saltzburg is on her feet in Miami and will bring home at a later date.