Purr Joy as Enzo, the cat missing for months, returns to his humans.
Community celebrates cat's capture
OTTER CREEK—Enzo, the cat who took off when it was hiking with its owners on Gorham Mountain in late May, has been captured and returned home after being spotted in a yard in Otter Creek.
The short hair, orange, tiger cat with a white chest had been visiting Mount Desert Island with his people when he went missing. And now? He’s reunited with his people.
Enzo is known to have a hankering for beef jerky. He was microchipped and this afternoon, the chip verified what everyone knew: it is him.
The celebratory messages came rolling through social media:
“Amazing! Amazing!”
“Never say never!”
“Best news ever!”
“So wonderful!”
During Enzo’s epic adventure, his people and others put out flyers along the roadside. Information about him was shared across social media. All the neighbors close to the mountain and on the Otter Cliff Road side were notified in person. Even after Enzo’s devastated family left, locals and volunteers from Downeast Feral Cat Connections hiked the area around Gorham, trying to think like a cat and even meowed a few times in an attempt to catch him. But Enzo wasn’t quite ready.
And then he was.
Giving an ending to a feline saga that enraptured a community of cat lovers on social media, Enzo was found and caught at Bart Chase’s house, August 8. By Wednesday, he was reunited with his people and hopefully given some jerky.
Brooke Kearns of Downeast Feral Cat Connections (NEH Ferals) had been looking for Enzo since May, noting scat and other signs in the area.
“We have been following sightings and leads for Enzo all summer,” said Laurie Cote of Downeast Feral Cat Connections. “Brooke checked some traps and continued to talk to neighbors. She followed all leads, including false ones, and I helped to connect her and Enzo’s parents with local people.”
An early sighting put Enzo on Sand Beach. Last week, people spotted Enzo crossing the road by the Burning Tree in Bar Harbor. Cote has a friend on Walls Street who put out food.
“The food disappeared, so I asked Brooke to beat feet over there and talk to neighbors. A homeowner spotted Enzo on camera; they called his people, who called Brooke, and she set a trap and got him,” Cote said.
The traps they use are exclusively humane gravity traps. They are “not the snappy hardware store traps,” Cote said. Those can catch tails and injure kittens. Traps, however, are illegal—no matter how humane—in Acadia National Park. Enzo wasn’t captured in the park where he went wandering, apparently escaped from a hiking backpack, but on private property.
Bart Chase posted on Facebook on Wednesday morning, “Happy Ending ! Enzo the Cat, missing for two months, found / captured at our home in the Creek last night. Enzo and out-of-state owner being reunited ! Yeah!”
The celebrations began.
“We are so fortunate to have Brooke Kearns and Kenneth James helping us this summer. They have been integral as my partner, Kelly Armstrong and myself, have a busy work schedule,” Cote said.
The story of the volunteers doesn’t end with Enzo’s happy tale.
“We work year round to capture stray and lost kitties. A lot of times our work with lost kitties helps us with funding our work with fixing and sheltering ferals,” Cote said. “Many kitties survive outdoors with the help of caretakers. We get the kittens homes, the moms and dads get homes if they are social. Some cats just prefer to live outdoors, but we make sure they are fixed, healthy, and have shelter and are monitored! Caretakers are very important.”
Back in 2011, a feral cat colony in Northeast Harbor made local news.
Laurie Cote started capturing kitties when a mama cat showed up in their yard in Northeast Harbor in 2021 with her kittens.
“We kept a kitten, found the others homes, and continued to feed her mom and dad outside, as they are feral cats and don’t want to live inside,” she said.
“I started a blog, NEH Ferals, and I have helped to capture many kitties, feral and even one kitty from New York! We captured over 70 cats during the pandemic.”
That New York cat had been camping with her human mom and escaped, but they got her.
This March, Cote moved to Ellsworth and the blog’s name changed to Downeast Feral Cat Connections. They go much further than MDI now.
“We captured and homed a kitty in Hancock this spring!!” Cote said.
WAYS YOU CAN HELP LOST CATS LIKE ENZO AND FERAL CATS, TOO
People can contact Cote through the Facebook page, Downeast Feral Cat Connections aka NEH Ferals.
Any donations to help them spay and neuter or help with health needs can be made to:
Downeast Feral Cat Connections
Attn: Laurie Cote
Small Animal Clinic
9 Toothaker Way
Ellsworth, ME 04605
“We are not a non-profit, just volunteers, using our own money and we appreciate any donations. We are trying to ease the burden on our local shelter who desperately needs funding as well,” Cote said.
The organization has some of its cats available like Big Cheese (not Enzo, he already has a home) and ready for a home. You can connect to them via the link below.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Downeast Feral Cat Connections
Ellsworth American article from 2010