Stowaway Cat Found After Nearly 1,700 Mile Train Ride

A injured stowaway cat trapped beneath the undercarriage of a high speed train in Britain managed to survive a nearly 1,700 mile ride before being discovered.

The creature’s meowing cries were eventually heard by a First Great Western employee during a brief scheduled stop on the train’s way to Cornwall, England. Upon investigation, manager Emily Mahoney-Smith located the cat in a sealed unit beneath the train’s front carriage. The cat was suffering with a broken leg and had endured two days without food or water during the 1,667 mile journey.

An article by UPI reports that the feline, named Polly, is believed to have crawled into the train after suffering the leg injury near her home in Plymouth, England. By the time she was rescued Polly had traveled nearly 1,700 miles through London, Oxford, Swansea, Paddington, and Worcester.

Mahoney-Smith thinks that Polly may have crawled into the sealed train compartment during a maintenance panel removal at a depot near the kitty’s home. She spoke to The Daily Mail about the stowaway cat’s condition at the time of her rescue:

“She was in surprisingly good condition and her coat was very shiny, although she was incredibly smelly from her infected leg. She was very friendly and when I made a couple of PA calls she could be heard purring in the background. It’s amazing how she survived for so long – I think she climbed into the train as she was after rats in the shunting yard.”

Once found, Polly was taken on board and given a meal of tuna and a box to sleep in until she could be attended to by veterinarians. Once she was seen by Matthew Berriman, the on-call vet, it was discovered that the two-year-old feline was micro-chipped with her owner’s contact information.

The cat was found to belong to 84-year-old Arthur Westington, a retired train driver, and his 82-year-old wife Louisa. Once contacted, the couple gave permission for the necessary medical amputation of Polly’s right front paw.

Polly is now safely recovering from her successful surgery at the Rosevean Veterinary Centre in Penzance. She is expected to be able to return to her home sometime in the next few days.

What do you think of Polly the stowaway cat surviving a 1,700 mile train ride?