A cat who happen to stow away on an Icelandic trawler has been fed by the ship’s crew and will be helped by a shelter in the community where she came on board.
The crew of the Gnúpur GK-011, a freezer trawler operating out of the fishing village of Grindvavík on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland, are helping a cat who managed to stow away on board, and who they discovered in the bow of the ship.
The crew has given kitty the lovely name of Særós, translated, Sea Rose.
Særós was skinny and appeared very under-nourished. She seemed to have been going without. The crew set about getting her into better shape and making arrangements for her when the ship returned to the village.
It is thought that Særós came on board weeks before she was saved. That earlier crew from a previous voyage reported seeing a cat darting around.
Sigurjón Veigar Þórðarson, a ship’s mechanic on board for the current voyage, posted photos to his Facebook (including the two seen here), showing Særós looking out from a little hiding spot and showing a trap Sigurjón built in order to trap the wary kitty and bring her safely to shore.
Sigurjón described the kitty as being very skittish and shy and said she runs when anyone tries to approach her.
He told the Morgunblaðið newspaper, “That kitty must not have had much time to sneak on board the trawler, because harbor stops are short – just long enough for unloading and a change of crew. There is generally a lot of activity going on the whole time.”
“We hear of things like this, but this happens extremely rarely. There aren’t that many ways for a cat to enter the ship. … In fact, this is pretty much unique. None of us has encountered a stowaway like this before,” he said.
Kitty’s chosen cubbyhole spot afforded her fresh air and warmth from a nearby space heater. In spite of her shyness, she has now endeared herself to the sailors.
The crew have reached out through social media to see if Særós had beeb reported missing by anyone, but no one has stepped forward to claim her. Rather than take her ashore in a different community, they simply decided to bring her back to the village where she came on board.
Sigurjón told Morgunblaðið that when a crew member suggested taking her on shore in a different town he scrapped the idea, saying:
“No. She comes from Grindavík, and that’s where she is going again.”
The local cat rescue, Villikettir, has agreed to take Særós in and to socialize her so she can be made available for adoption and find a her own foerever home, only this one on dry land.
Source: www.lifewithcats.tv
