Kitty gets lost, saved by kindness of stranger(s)

Bass, (also known affectionately as Kitty or Foofy — due to her foofness) a local cat, had quite the adventure last week. Owned by (if one can say that about a cat) Kendal Kinsley, who is the daughter of Murdo residents Matt and Lisa Kinsley. Kendal is currently at South Dakota State University majoring in Business Economics  and her cat is under the care of her parents. The adventurous Bass somehow hitched a ride to Fort Pierre on Tuesday, November 11. Bass’s great-grandmother, Barb Hockenbary speculates that, “She must’ve hitched a ride on a stock trailer or pickup”, since she ended up at the Fort Pierre Sale Barn. 

The Kinsleys were alerted to Bass’s whereabouts by an Air Tag — a device that attaches to a pet’s collar. The Air Tag “pings” off of any WIFI or Bluetooth connections and sends a notification to the owner’s cell phone of the pet’s location.

Barb Hockenbary immediately created a Facebook post with photos of the kitty to ask for help from anyone that may be in the area to keep an eye out for the cat. That evening Lisa and Barb drove to the area to look for Bass. They had no luck. High winds and cold may have forced the cat to seek shelter. 

In the meantime, Sydney Kinsley, an avid animal lover who is involved in pet rescue, shared Barb’s Facebook post to the Pierre Area Lost and Found Pets Facebook page and Barb began texting friends in the area to watch for the cat. She and Lisa also contacted the Ft. Pierre City Office, Shop, Police Department, and Pierre Animal Clinic.

Wednesday afternoon, Barb received a Facebook message from Christian Dees, owner of Bad River Cannabis, a medical cannabis facility in the vicinity of Kitty’s first ping. Christian had just seen a Facebook post with the photo of Bass and, shortly after, saw the cat outside his window at work. He immediately knew he had to help and set out to capture her. Through trial and error he finally managed to get ahold of Bass... and was gifted a few scratches in the process.

Barb and Lisa drove back to Ft. Pierre on Wednesday evening to retrieve the feisty feline and give a hearty thank-you to Christian.

Over the course of approximately 24 hours Barb’s Facebook post was shared 79 times and Sydney’s Facebook post to the lost pets page was shared 81 times! 

As frustrating as we often may find social media and technology to be, I imagine the Kinsley family to be rather grateful for it that day. And I find it very heartening that for all of the division one can see on all of the different social media platforms, when it comes down to it, the vast majority of people are good, kind, empathetic and helpful if the opportunity arises.