If your pets are not micro-chipped, this story might push you to get it on your to-do list. This reunion story spans 3 years and 1,500 miles and was made possible through modern technology.
All this week Mary Ann Thomas has been showering her cat Chester with affection and for good reason. It's the first time she's seen him in three years.
"He just was not there one day," said Thomas.
Chester is an indoor/outdoor cat, so Thomas didn't think anything was wrong when he didn't come home three years ago.
"I was like 'Oh well. He must have just gone for a little stroll or something. Maybe the neighbors are feeding him and he will come back.' So you were just like oh, suddenly there was no Chester," said Thomas.
It turns out Chester had been taken in by a family in Austin who then moved to California. Another out of state move recently forced the family to turn him over to the Contra Costa Animal Shelter. Workers there scanned the cat and the information embedded microchip led them to an ecstatic Thomas.
"All I heard was my cat was in California and I was like OK," said Thomas
Thomas adopted Chester from the Austin Humane Society when he was just 8 weeks old. That was ten years ago. Micro-chipping wasn't done routinely back then as it is now, but Thomas thought it would be a good idea for Chester.
"I just think it is a really good technology. It is not like a collar. It is not like a tag. They cannot lose it," said Thomas.
At the Austin Humane Society Tuesday, kittens were getting their microchips implanted.
"Micro-chipping saves lives. Sometimes animals get lost. They escape from the fence, things happen and they may wind up in a situation where their future is uncertain. It could mean life or death at a shelter," said Frances Jonon, the executive director of the Humane Society of Austin.
While the Humane Society of Austin is a no-kill shelter, many local shelters have to put down strays that are unclaimed.
