IT WAS not a case of the cat catching a bird but of a tweet finding the cat. A fare-evading feline which travelled by Dart from Malahide to Dublin’s Pearse Street station was reunited with its owner yesterday after an appeal was posted by Iarnród Éireann on Twitter.
Five-month-old Lilou managed to make her way undetected as far as the city centre station on Wednesday morning before she was handed in by a concerned passenger at 11am.
Using CCTV Iarnród Éireann managed to trace her movements back to Malahide in north Co Dublin where footage revealed that she boarded the train at 10.30am.
Human resources staff looked after the stowaway and temporarily christened her “Dart”.
A staff member brought her home to mind on Wednesday night.
After ringing animal welfare societies for advice, the company decided to try using Twitter to post an appeal to its more than 3,000 followers. The tweet at about midday read: “Is this your cat? Arrived Pearse Stn yesterday 11am, off Malahide Dart”. The company also later put out a media appeal.
Lilou’s adventure came in the same week as a viral YouTube video about a woman dumping a cat in a bin in England.
Iarnód Éireann’s tweet was reposted more than 100 times, and about 2 pm yesterday the owner contacted the Dart station.
Parisian Eric Bieci said he received a number of calls from people who knew his cat was missing and had heard that a cat from Malahide had been found.
Lilou had been missing since Monday night after Mr Bieci left the window open in his home near Malahide dart station. Because he managed the local Seabank Bistro he was not always there at night, he explained. Mr Bieci said he spent all night on Monday looking for her.
Noting that Lilou “looks tired” after her adventure, Mr Bieci joked: “She decided to go shopping in the city centre. However, I didn’t give her my credit card.”
