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Cat hitches 24-mile ride in minivan's engine compartment

By Ben Hooper
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Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A 10-year-old cat was reunited with its owner after hitching a 240-mile ride under the hood of a minivan in New York.

Jim Fitzgerald, director of the Warren County SPCA, was called to The Great Escape Lodge in Queensbury Jan. 23 after a family that drove to the lodge from New York City reported smelling cat urine during the trip and hearing meowing coming from under the hood of the Honda Odyssey after they arrived.

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Fitzgerald said the orange cat was buried deep among the hoses in the engine compartment, toward the passenger side of the vehicle.

"When I first saw it, I said, 'Is it alive?'" Fitzgerald told The Glen Falls Post-Star newspaper. "Then I saw it move. It was a little standoffish at first and a little lethargic, but he let me get him out."

He said the cat managed to avoid injury during the 3-hour, 240-mile drive.

The SPCA posted photos of the feline hitchhiker on its Facebook page, and the post was spread across the social networking site until it reached Raven Huang, a New York City resident whose 10-year-old cat, Gumbo, was missing.

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Huang confirmed the tabby was his missing pet, and the two were reunited.

"It was a great ending," Fitzgerald said.

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