Salem the Cat and Her Disappearance From Lewis Oliver Farm

Salem was known as the super friendly cat that used to live at Lewis Oliver Farm in Northport.

The little black cat and her twin sister Sabrina were rescued from a feral cat colony about seven years ago by barn manager Lorene Eriksen.

Sabrina was super shy and most people didn’t even know the farm had two cats. They just saw Salem hanging around the barn.

And then Salem went missing on Aug. 14, 2014 and never returned.

The farm took every possible measure to find her: they issued an amber alert, went door-to-door, put up fliers, looked in garages, shared the news on social media, used a mailing service and even used a phone service for lost pets.

Salem, a cat who typically always stayed close to the barn, was nowhere to be found.

Eriksen acknowledges that there are so many possible explanations: Salem could’ve left the farm for good on her own, she could’ve gotten into a fight with another cat, she could’ve gotten hit by a car, she could’ve gotten stolen.

Eriksen always had suspicions that someone mistook her friendly black cat as a stray and wanted to rescue it, but a recent piece of evidence in Salem’s disappearance has come to light that further enhances this belief.

In early June, a woman visitor at Lewis Oliver Farm saw Salem’s “missing” poster and stopped dead in her tracks. The woman told Eriksen that she remembers seeing a post about Salem on a local community Facebook group for parents around the same time the cat went missing. The woman said the group member asked about “the friendly black cat at Lewis Oliver Farm” and wanted to know if Salem had an owner because she “feels so bad for it.”

“Needless to say, this was a shocking revelation and a substantial break in what had remained a mystery behind her disappearance,” Eriksen said.

Farm workers joined the Facebook group themselves and asked the members in the group if they remember the post. Several members in the group have come forward to confirm this post did exist, but it seems the original post has disappeared from the Facebook page.

“The fact that the post no longer appears on the page tells us that the person who likely took Salem after writing about her either lost her in the process of ‘rescuing’ her or simply has no intentions of coming forward to clear up what could well have been a case of mistaken identity (Salem as a stray, that is),” Eriksen said.

Although there is no proof Salem was removed from Lewis Oliver Farm by a visitor, this new piece of information is “too coincidental to not look into it,” Eriksen said.

If someone did take Salem from the farm, Eriksen said it is just like walking onto someone’s property and removing their cat or dog.

There is a $1,500 reward being offered for information leading directly to Salem’s whereabouts and safe return.

The farm hopes that whoever might have Salem or information regarding where she would be located will have “empathy and compassion” for Salem’s family and will be inspired to reach out to the farm.

“Anyone who has ever had a pet, knows how much they are a part of our family and can imagine how worried we have been for this past almost year,” Eriksen said.

Salem is a small black cat weighing about 6 to 7 pounds. She has a tiny head with pointed-features and a slender tail. At the time of her disappearance, she had a small bald patch on her back that was the result of over-grooming.

She has additional physical and behavioral characteristics that her owners would be able to recognize in order to identify her.

Anyone with information on Salem, or has seen a black cat in the area that positively fits her description, can contact Lewis Oliver Farm at (631) 261-6320.