Booboo the cat was a stray, wandering around in Guelph, Ontario in Canada.
Someone brought her into the Guelph humane society. When the employees there checked Booboo’s microchip* to see where she was from, they found something that surprised them.
It turns out, Booboo was from California, in the United States–more than 3,000 kilometres away. She had gone missing in 2013, four years ago.
The humane society called Booboo’s owners in California, who were shocked to find out how far she had travelled.
They said Booboo would often climb into cars, if someone left a door open. They say she may have “hitched a ride” in someone’s vehicle.
There was another problem, however. Booboo’s owners didn’t have passports, so they couldn’t come to Canada to fetch her. They didn’t know how they were going to get Booboo back.
Luckily, Canadian animal protection officers helped out. They brought Booboo to Buffalo, New York (in the United States); meanwhile, Booboo’s owners flew to Buffalo and that’s where the family was reunited with their beloved cat last week.
The owner told CTV News that when she got the call from Canada it was 5 a.m. and she didn’t even pick up the phone because she didn’t know anyone in Canada.
The owners were very grateful to the Canadians who went to such lengths to return Booboo to her California home.
In the four years Booboo was missing, the owners had adopted a new cat and they hoped the two would get along. They say Booboo is settling in now, back in her “new-old” home in the United States.
*A microchip is a tiny computer chip (inserted under the animal’s skin) that contains information about an animal and its owners, in case it gets lost.
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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Booboo must have had more than a few adventures during her epic adventure. Write a fictional story based on her journey from California to Guelph and use information from today’s article to support your details.
Reading Prompt: Text Forms
News articles often structure their information in a specific way. Most often, who, what, when, where, and why are told first, next are any additional important details, and, finally, any other remaining general or background info. This style is called “the inverted pyramid.”
Is this structure used in today’s article? Why do you think so?
Primary
Identify and describe the characteristics of a variety of text forms, with a focus on literary texts such as a fable or adventure story (OME, Reading: 2.1).
Junior
Analyse a variety of text forms and explain how their particular characteristics help communicate meaning, with a focus on literary texts such as short stories (OME, Reading: 2.1).
Intermediate
Analyse a variety of text forms and explain how their particular characteristics help communicate meaning, with a focus on literary texts such as a novel (OME, Reading: 2.1).
Language Feature: Hyphenated Adjectives ( – )
A hyphen is a punctuation mark that can bring two words together to form one adjective. An adjective is a describing word used to tell about a person, place, or thing (noun). Today’s article contains a great hyphenated adjective. Joyce describes the cat’s home as “new-old,” because, in a way, it’s both. What makes this hyphenated adjective even better is, at first blush, it seems like there’s a serious contradiction here, but the reader gets a great little surprise when they discover that what seems so wrong is so very right!
Write your own hyphenated adjectives to describe: Canada, where you live, your best friend, your favourite movie, a pet.
