Searching for Sergio
“We have to imagine getting [him] home,‘” says Darleen Taylor desperately. “If we imagine it everyday, it will happen. We hope and pray Sergio comes home.” If anyone has reason to believe in the power of positive thinking, it’s this devoted cat owner.
A while ago, Taylor and her husband invested in a “cat-proof” fence topper, so their rescued felines could enjoy the sunshine in their Addis backyard. Before long, their gray-and-white tabby and solid white cats, Sergio and Trooper, discovered a way to leave their compound much to the delight of the elderly neighbors they visited daily. When the Taylors got home from work, the friendly felines returned home for dinner and an evening of TV watching from their favorite recliner.
When the boys didn’t come right home one evening last November, Taylor was searching door-to-door, when she noticed a trap in a new neighbor’s yard. No one answered the door that night. But, the trap owner later admitted to Taylor’s state trooper husband that he had trapped and released a white cat.
“What hurt me the most is: Sergio is a CAAWS cat I adopted 10 years ago,” she says. Likewise, “Trooper was picked up by my husband on Highway 90 because someone dumped him. I had always told those two they would never have to find a home again.”
Devastated but determined, Taylor placed ads in the newspaper, called every local pound, distributed flyers, posted on Craigslist, created a Petfinder profile to be notified every time a cat matching either description was posted and twice placed a citywide Amber Alert, which sent robocalls throughout the city and faxes to vets and other animal-related businesses.
“I knew the day they were gone that someone took them,” Taylor says. “[So] I knew I had to look everywhere for them.”
Two months later across the river in South Baton Rouge, animal advocate Paula Bergeron emailed friends at CAAWS (Capital Area Animal Welfare Society). Aware that her dogs’ intolerance of felines made fostering impossible, Bergeron asked whether anyone could foster a white cat, who kept leaping into her house to escape the freezing temperatures.
At the new foster home, the personable, white female cat was named Sweetie Pie. However, when the cat arrived at the clinic for spay surgery, the vet informed the foster their girl was a neutered male. “That’s not usually the kind of cat we rescue,” CAAWS Cat Coordinator Stacey Orillion says. “Most come from feral colonies. I thought it had to be somebody’s cat. I placed an ad in the paper. I had never done that before.”
Spending the holiday weekend in Grand Isle, Taylor saw the Friday newspaper ad and the arranged to meet Orillion on Martin Luther King Day. Orillion asked Taylor to bring a picture to help verify a potential match; but, neither woman mentioned the cat’s small distinctive black spot on his head. “Saturday were the longest days in the entire world,” recalls Taylor.
It seemed ludicrous that a 16-pound cat could find his way across the Mississippi River, 20 miles away from home. However, when Orillion and Taylor arrived at the CAAWS shelter, there was no doubt Sweetie Pie was Trooper. For the first time since becoming cat coordinator six months prior, Orillion has the pleasure of closing out the cat’s file with the words released to owner.
“When he first came home, he had lost nearly 11 pounds, was a little skittish and growled at everything,” reports Taylor. However, now Trooper weighs 14 pounds and has regained enough confidence to resume his role in the house.
Because the neighbor with the traps drives a company truck with an Industrialplex address, Taylor and Orillion suspect he trapped and dumped two cats in the Siegen Lane area. Although both trapping and dumping animals are illegal, the Taylors have been told they do not have enough evidence to press charges.
So, they and Orillion have focused their efforts on finding Sergio and educating the public about the peril of lost pets. Orillion hopes Trooper’s tale persuades pet owners to microchip their pets—even if they never leave home. She also encourages the public to help stray animals like Trooper and Sergio, whose heartbroken owner may be praying for a pet’s safe return.
No matter how much time passes, Orillion says, “I think the Taylors will always look for Sergio.”
Click here to view the Amber Alert poster on Sergio.
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