Cat goes missing in Hat Yai, turns up 1000km away in Bangkok, Thailand

‘Moota’ the stripy cat turned up in Bangkok after going missing more than one month ago, almost 1000 kilometres away near the border of Malaysia in Hat Yai, Songkhla province, southern Thailand.

On Wednesday, the Facebook page ‘Traffic on the Si Rat – Outer Ring Road Expressway of Bangkok‘ posted pictures of a beautiful striped cat with a red collar around its neck sitting under an umbrella in the back of a pickup truck.

A concerned citizen spotted the cat on the side of the Si Rat Expressway in the Phaya Thai area in Bangkok and notified the traffic wardens. The traffic wardens found Moota and knew he must have an owner because of his collar.

It was raining heavily and the cat appeared to be “missing home,” said the traffic wardens. The wardens suspected the cat had gotten lost or fallen from someone’s car.

The traffic wardens thought the cat might be in danger so took him in and posted on Facebook in hope of finding his owner. The Facebook post gained traction and finally reached Moota’s owner a few days later – in Hat Yai.

On Saturday, the cat’s owner, Baew Jiratsabok, flew to Bangkok to pick up Moota. Yesterday, Baew posted pictures on Facebook of Moota waiting to board the train back to Hat Yai. The train journey takes anywhere between 15 and 18 hours.

Baew joked that she had spent all of her money on her plane ticket from Hat Yai to Bangkok so the pair had to take the long train instead. Moota was in awe because he has never been on a train before, said Baew. Baew thanked the State Railway of Thailand for letting Moota ride the train home.

Baew suspects that Moota travelled to Bangkok by hopping in the back of someone’s pickup truck or car in Hat Yai and stayed there for the whole 13 hour journey. But Moota went missing almost a month ago – so no one really knows what kind of adventure Moota went on.

‘Moota’ is short for Moo Ga Ta, a popular Thai technique of barbequing pork.

SOURCE: Thai Rath, CH7