Amazing adventures of Nidderdale's Spartacus
After getting married at Middlesmoor in July last year, Kit and Megan Peel went to live on the Greek island of Hydra.
It was there that they adopted two newborn kittens.
Kit said: "They had been left for dead in the street and found by our landlady, Maria. Spartacus was wrapped up in tin foil and left in the full sun, while Tancredi was tied up in a rubbish bag and thrown in a bin."
Having bottle-fed Spartacus and Tancredi and nursed them back to health, Kit and Megan realised they couldn't leave them in Greece, so they arranged Pet Passports for them to take them back to Nidderdale.
When the day arrived, Megan had already left for the UK, so Kit went on his own to Athens Airport, where he had arranged for the cats to travel on BA Cargo to Heathrow Airport.
Sitting in a room with open, kiosk-style window-holes, Kit held the cats while their cage was x-rayed.
He said: "The cats panicked when the BA staff returned with the cage and Spartacus broke free of my grip and bolted and ran out into the cargo area.
" 'Cargo area' is a loose term for at least a square mile of car parks, loading areas, warehouses and bushes, with a motorway on one side and the airport on the other. Basically, it was the worst possible place to lose a scared cat. I searched for hours, but to no avail."
Unfortunately, Kit had to travel with the other cat that evening, so after much more searching, he contacted his landlady on Hydra, Maria, who had found Spartacus as a kitten. She agreed to travel by hydrofoil and taxi from Hydra to the airport – a journey of more than three hours.
"Two friends from Athens, husband and wife Christos and Pavlina, also agreed to come and hunt before Maria arrived. Pavlina is a special financial advisor to the Greek government. She actually cancelled a meeting with the Greek foreign minister to come and look for Spartacus. And Christos abandoned his job covering the Wimbledon championships!"
While Maria promised to look all night, Kit booked the earliest flight back to Athens the next day, so that he could take over. They thought the chance of finding Spartacus was very low, but were determined not to give up.
Meanwhile, Megan, who was by now in Pateley Bridge, banged on the Rev Peter Dunbar's door and they went to St Cuthbert's to light candles and pray for Spartacus's safe return. Mr Dunbar even made it the subject of his Sunday sermon.
When Kit got back to the UK, he picked up Tancredi from the animal reception centre at Heathrow, and eventually got to sleep in the early hours.
Back in Athens, Pavlina and her husband had gone home at 11pm, while Maria searched alone all night, without a rest. Finally, at 5 o'clock in the morning, she found Spartacus half a mile from where he had escaped – hiding just six feet away from the highway.
Kit said: "It was nothing short of miraculous – not least because he was in the opposite direction to which he'd been seen running when he escaped.
"Until 4am Maria had only been looking in the wrong direction, before striking out the other way. She rang my wife – and they were both in tears."
Kit got up at 4am to make the first flight to Athens, where he was reunited with a traumatised but otherwise well Spartacus. Two days later they were back in Pateley Bridge.
Kit said: "The cats were overjoyed to see each other and are now looking out of the window at things they've never seen before on their old island home: sheep, cows and long, green grass."
He added: "They've already had their first Pateley pork pie, which they liked a lot!"
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Weather for Ripon
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Temperature: -7 C to 1 C
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