Cat lost on BC Ferries reunited with owner

It was an emotional reunion between Luigi, a two-year-old tuxedo Cat, and his owner after he had been missing for more than two weeks.

During a sailing from Duke Point to Tsawwassen on August 9, Luigi managed to slip out of his owner’s car and disappeared on the lower deck.

After initial searches came up empty, the owner and B.C. Ferries staff weren’t sure if Luigi was still on the boat or even still in B.C.

“We’re just devastated that he wasn’t there upon our return,” said Neelya Krikke, Luigi’s owner.

“The fairy crew was phenomenal. They helped me search the whole boat. They let me stay on till the very end, but we couldn’t find Luigi.”

They got help from Halo’s Pet Rescue, a volunteer group that has been helping owners find their lost pets for two years.

“Transport Canada allowed us to do a search of the vessel with the dog,” said Karen Nixon, Founder of Halo’s Pet Rescue.

“We did do a very thorough search, but no Luigi, unfortunately.”

“It was disappointing. We had hoped he was still on the vessel, but it also ruled it out for us, and we knew that we had to obviously keep extending our search,” she added.

Nixon says that her team kept searching both terminals for as long as she was able to walk the dog.

A few days later, a BC Ferries worker spotted a black and white cat hidden behind a trailer a few 100 meters away from the ferry terminal.

“He was scared, you could tell he was scared,” said Jeff Meier, a commercial services driver with BC Ferries.

“On Sunday morning, I left some food for him, and within five minutes, he was close, and I was talking to him.”

He says that he tried to get Luigi, but he got spooked and ran into where he was hiding.

Once Krikke heard about it, she told Nixon from Halo’s Pet Rescue, and together they were able to locate Luigi.

It took a team effort, but Luigi is now finally back home, cuddling with his two siblings.

“We never give up on hoping, and the public outpour of support for Luigi and the number of people looking for him and rooting for him was amazing,” said Luigi’s owner Krikke.