One-Eyed Cat Missing 5 Years Found Alive in Shipping Container and Took a Helicopter Back Home

The cat nicknamed "One-Eyed Joe" had been staying as a stray around Peterhead Prison in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, since going missing

Stowaway cat

On Friday, a one-eyed cat reunited with his family following five years away thanks to rescuers who flew the cat home in a helicopter after finding the feline stowed away in a shipper container.

The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) picked up the pet from an offshore shipping container near Scotland and gave him "a personal helicopter ride back to shore," according to a news release from the organization.

"We've no idea how the cat ended up there but attended the heliport this morning to collect him," Aimee Findlay, an SSPCA animal rescue officer, said in the release.

The shipping container carrying the cat ended up at an oil rig, where the humans reached out to the SSPCA for assistance getting the cat back on land.

The feline nicknamed "One-Eyed Joe" was living as a stray around Peterhead Prison in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, before he made his way into a shipping container near the facility that was transported to the oil rig, according to the SSPCA.

"The cat had been nicknamed 'One-eyed Joe' by the prison who had been feeding him for five years, but after checking him for a microchip, it turns out his real name is Dexter, and he has been missing for five years," Findlay said.

Findlay added that the organization appreciates that the cat was "well looked for the time he was missing."

Dexter, a stowaway cat rescued on North Sea platform
Scottish SPCA

"But we're even more delighted to be able to reunite him with his original owner thanks to his microchip being up to date," she shared.

The cat's owner Bridie Dorta told BBC Scotland that she was "quite shocked" to be reunited with Dexter.

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"He's always been a wanderer," she said. "He went away a few years ago, and we never heard anything about him since. We never expected him to end up back here."

Dorta told the outlet she hopes her feline will be able to stay in touch with the prisoners who helped him.

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