Cat Missing in Yellowstone Returns Home to California After an 800-Mile Trek

The owners of Rayne Beau, the 2-year old Siamese cat, have no idea how their cat made it back, but call his return a “miracle.”

When a cat dashed into the woods of Yellowstone National Park during a camping trip in June, his California owners, Benny and Susanne Anguiano, thought they’d never see him again.

The couple searched for five days through the woods near their campground at Fishing Bridge R.V. Park but never found their 2-year-old male Siamese cat, Rayne Beau, pronounced “rainbow.” Mrs. Anguiano said that Rayne Beau’s sister, Starr, started to meow through the screen door of the trailer. Eventually, when the couple made the tough decision to drive home to Salinas, Calif., Starr, who had never been away from her brother, meowed all the way back.

“Leaving him was unthinkable,” Mrs. Anguiano said. “I felt like I was abandoning him.”

But almost two months later, Rayne Beau was found wandering the streets of Roseville, Calif., three hours north of where the Anguianos live and more than 800 miles away from Yellowstone National Park, as first reported by the news station KSBW.

When a worker from a local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals notified the couple that rescuers had identified Rayne Beau from his microchip, Mr. Anguiano said they were shocked that the cat had made it back to California.

The couple met Rayne Beau and his sister when they were 11 weeks old and decided to foster and then adopt them. Rayne Beau, who at first seemed timid compared with his playful sister, quickly adjusted to his new home and developed an adventurous streak. Mrs. Anguiano described him as being like a “dog cat” who played fetch and came to her when she called his name.

She said he was also clever. One night he climbed over the fence in their backyard, but he returned home the following morning.

But this time was different. Mrs. Anguiano said that when Rayne Beau dashed out of the truck, the couple quickly lost sight of him in the dense forest. They waited for him to come back, but he never did.

“He didn’t realize that it wasn’t just like his backyard,” she said. “This is like the biggest backyard in the United States.”

During their search, Mr. Anguiano said a campsite worker told him that there had been grizzly bears and coyotes spotted around the area, and that their cat was likely to have been eaten by one of the forest’s predators. After hearing this, Mr. Anguiano persuaded his wife that it was time to leave.

The couple left the park days later without their cat, but Mrs. Anguiano kept hoping Rayne Beau was safe. As they were driving, she said that a double rainbow greeted them as they entered Nevada.

“That gave me hope that our Rayne Beau would be ok,” she said in a text message.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Anguiano believe at some point that their cat had hitched a ride or was picked up by a driver heading toward California for part of his journey, but they do not know for sure. The couple is hoping that someone who might recognize their cat could help explain how he made it back.

“The fact that he was in California and just three hours north of us — I think that proves more that Rayne Beau was the one trying to get towards his home,” Mrs. Anguiano said.

While not common, it’s not the first time a pet has inexplicably traveled hundreds of miles to return home. The distance from their campsite in Yellowstone National Park to Roseville, Calif., where Rayne Beau was found, is more than 800 miles, and a journey would have taken him through four states in mountainous and desertlike conditions.

When the couple reunited with him, they said that Rayne Beau had lost 40 percent of his body weight. He was restless in his carrier, but once they released him in the car he calmed down.

“He just looked at me, and then he put his head down and just fell fast asleep,” Mrs. Anguiano said. “He was so exhausted.”

The couple said that Rayne Beau has been back home since early August and was doing well. Mrs. Anguiano is hesitant to travel with her cats again, but if she does, they won’t be so far away from home.