Orchard's missing cat found after more than a year

Feb. 21 (UPI) -- An orchard in Illinois said a foster cat is back home after going missing more than a year earlier.

The Curtis Orchard in Champaign said the cat, named Baby Boo, was brought to the orchard as a foster kitten in 2022 and went missing in October of that year.

"At the end of the day, Baby Boo was no longer there," Rachel Coventry, a secretary at the orchard, told WCIA-TV. "With so many people around, we know it wasn't a wild animal. And, you know, we'd check the road, make sure it didn't get injured or anything like that."

Coventry said there was no sign of Baby Boo until the local Humane Society called recently to say the cat had been found.

"We didn't have any records written down as to whether she was picked up by animal control or whether someone released her to them. So we know nothing," Coventry said.

She said all of the orchard's foster cats are microchipped, as kittens had been known to fall asleep in visitors' strollers or sneak into their cars.

"Wish she could tell me what happened, where she went," Coventry said. "Did she accidentally jump in someone's car and they just kept her? Or was she taken intentionally?"

Coventry said a family has already been in contact with the orchard about giving Baby Boo a permanent home.