Catching Cowboy

This past Sunday, Flo Thompson received a call for which she had waited six long, weeks. Her beloved cat, Cowboy had been found!

Thompson had spent an unnerving 42 days since her best friend, a black and white cat named Cowboy, escaped from her car at the Mobil station near Exit 10. Returning from a vacation in Maine, Thompson stopped for gas at the station in Newtown.

Cowboy, Thompson's longstanding travel companion, had always been well-behaved in the car. But the high level of traffic and noise frightened the timid, black and white cat.

He took off as soon as the door opened.

Attempts to call him back went unheeded.

For several days, Thompson remained in Newtown hoping to find Cowboy and return with him to her home in Virginia. After several days with no sightings, a dejected Thompson made the decision to return home to Virginia.

Before leaving, Thompson sought the help of Newtown's professional rescuer and trapper Karlyn Sturmer.

Newtown residents will remember Sturmer as the individual who was instrumental in recovering "Blue," the dog that was lost in Newtown for nearly three years before Sturmer was brought in to trap him. Since then, Blue has remained Sturmer's constant companion, almost four years later.

Sturmer spent many years trapping and neutering hundreds of cats and dogs in post-Katrina New Orleans. With the assistance of Monica Roberto of The Animal Center, she continues her trapping services on behalf of Newtown's feral cat population.

Last weekend, Sturmer received a call from Fred Arther, a resident of Clapboard Ridge Road.  His family had been traveling on Church Hill when their 10 yr-old-son, Kevin, a "true animal person" noticed a cat hanging around the train tracks on Commerce Drive, his mother Mary Arther said. He mentioned  the cat appeared to be a stray. 

Just after the sighting the family car passed  one, then another poster of Cowboy. Kevin was sure this was the same cat. They returned to the area and all agreed that the cat Kevin spotted matched the description and photos of Cowboy.

They called Sturmer, whose telephone number was listed on Cowboy's poster. Sturmer immediately went to the site, an area that she was familiar with having trapped a  feral colony at an abandoned house there .

Sturmer saw the cat but was unable to corner the frightened kitty.

The cat refused to allow anyone to approach him.

Sturmer then contacted Thompson, and within a day Cowboy's Virginia owner was on a plane back to Newtown.

On Monday, Thompson and Sturmer went out to train tracks along Commerce Road.  Cowboy almost immediately responded to his owner's calls and was reunited with a relieved and thankful Thompson.

Editor'snote: Karlyn Sturmer's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this article.