Museum regular 16 year old Tiger the cat has been harbouring a rather purr-plexing secret: fourteen years ago he ran away from his owner to join our very own Maintenance Team! A recent trip to the vets blew his cover however as we quickly found out that Tiger, or Snitch as he was appropriately known, was once the much-beloved pet of local Rachel Wells who’s a veterinary nurse at White Cross Vets in Wolverhampton.
Rachel spend months desperately searching for him to no avail, and eventually resigned herself to having lost him forever. Meanwhile the fraudulent feline was seeking a new life here, cosying up to Roger Colbourne on the Maintenance Team. The pair have been inseparable ever since and Roger has been feeding him every day for over a decade, __with Tiger waiting for him at the gates each morning.
Roger Colbourne, 70, said: “I was astounded to learn about Tiger’s past. I have grown extremely close to him over the years and can’t imagine life without his companionship. I see him almost every day and the maintenance team all have a special bond __with him – someone’s always fussing him or treating him. I lost my dog Rose over Christmas but seeing Tiger every day really helped me through that – he’s such an affectionate and loving cat. Still, we can’t help but feel duped – I thought someone had abandoned him when the truth was he had run away from a perfectly good home and loving owner.”
Rachel Wells, 34, said: “Tiger was 18 months old when he went to play out 14 years ago but he never returned. I spent months putting up posters and trying to find him but it proved fruitless. However working as a veterinary nurse means I’ve seen a number of pets reunited with their owners after long periods of time so I never gave up hope and each time I moved house I always updated my contact details on his microchip, on the off-chance he ever turned up.
“When he finally reappeared after all these years I couldn’t believe it and especially because he’s now living so close to me. It’s a huge relief to know that he’s safe, well and is being so well looked after by Roger and the Black Country Living Museum.”
Tigers chip will be officially renamed to Roger – so keep a look out for him around the Museum where he’ll spend his days snoozing, meowing at Roger to be picked up and catching the odd mouse to earn his keep.
