Colorado – A resilient cat managed to survive 40 days alone in the Colorado wilderness. In early June, the three-year-old cat, Fridge, slipped out of his owners’ tent during the night at a campground near the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Fridge’s owner, Na-Kee Bullen, and her boyfriend Jefferson Howard, searched the area for hours, but the tabby cat was nowhere to be found. Eventually, the pair made the difficult decision to head back home to Minnesota. Howard expressed the heartbreak that followed in an Instagram post:
We could not find her anywhere and were absolutely devastated. For us the trip was ruined. Not even in my worst nightmare could I have guessed this could happen. It was so awful and felt like a piece of me was gone. The rest of the trip felt like a blur, feeling empty and just trying to get home. It was very hard to enjoy anything and the excitement of the trip had turned into grief and despair.
The couple continued to search shelters in the area where Fridge vanished, even though hope faded with every passing week. Eventually, the call they hoped would come finally did.
Howard said:
Two days ago I got the best call of my life. One of the humane society’s nearby where we had lost her, had a cat brought in matching her EXACT description. They thought of me, gave me a call and sent over some pictures asking if it was in fact our cat that had gone missing.
The pair immediately hit the road, embarking on a 14-hour trek from Minnesota to Colorado to retrieve their wayward cat. Fridge lost three pounds while on her own, but amazingly, seemed to manage wilderness life remarkably well. Howard writes:
She was also now a certified badass for surviving in the wild by herself for 40 days…And now we are on our way back home (Minnesota) with our cat and full hearts ❤️❤️❤️
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