"I recognized him immediately": Mozart the cat found after 17 years, hundreds of kilometers from his home
Volunteers who rescued animals from the fire zone in southwestern France scanned the cat's identification chip and discovered that he had disappeared shortly after being adopted in 2009. At the end of the month, Mozart is expected to reunite with his owner, who did not believe she would ever see him again.
Mozart, an 18-year-old cat who disappeared shortly after being adopted in 2009, was located in the fire zone in southwestern France. Volunteers scanned his identification chip, located his former owner, and an emotional reunion is planned for the end of the month.
Mozart, an 18-year-old black and white cat who disappeared almost 17 years ago, was located during animal rescue operations in the fire zones in southwestern France. According to Le Parisien, the cat was found on July 25 in the town of Lège-Cap-Ferret in the Gironde department, an area affected by forest fires and resident evacuations.
Volunteers from a local cat rescue organization located Mozart during sweeps of areas affected by the fires and along evacuation routes. After scanning the identification chip implanted in him, it turned out that he was a cat adopted in Bordeaux in 2009 and had disappeared shortly thereafter.
The owner, Élisabeth-Sophie Stevens, who currently lives near the city of Dijon in eastern France, was located using the old registration details of the chip. She is expected to meet Mozart on August 23, or at the latest by the end of the month, after he is transferred from the temporary shelter in the city of Floirac.
According to the volunteers, Mozart is in good health. He is eating and drinking normally, is calm while being cared for, and no urgent medical problems were discovered. In the meantime, he is staying at an improvised animal shelter set up for animals rescued from the fire zones.
The story was discovered as part of a wider operation to rescue animals that were abandoned or trapped following the fires in southwestern France. Volunteers scanned identification chips, performed veterinary checks, found foster families, and worked to locate the owners of the animals found.
The most emotional moment came when the volunteers contacted Stevens. According to the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, she initially thought it was another cat she owned:
"I still had him last night!" she said.
However, after receiving a picture of the cat, she immediately understood who it was.
"I recognized him immediately. It's unbelievable!" she said. According to her, although almost 17 years had passed since he disappeared, she had no doubt that it was Mozart.
