Kitten escaped on ferry found in Juneau and returned to owner

A cat bound for Haines with her family who managed to get loose on the northbound ferry was reunited with her family after being located in Juneau.

The cat, who apparently hitched a ride on a truck that debarked the ferry, was located by Ashlyn Harper and her boyfriend Tyler Rudy under her porch in the Mendenhall Valley.

“We were leaving the house and heard this little kitten kind of crying,” Harper said in a phone interview. “We narrowed it down to the porch, so we got a flashlight.”

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Spot, a kitten who escaped on an Alaska Marine Highway ferry bound from Washington to Haines, took a solo adventure in Juneau but was returned to her family in Haines by a thoughtful Juneau resident on March 9, 2021. (Courtesy Photo / Ashlyn Harper)

Harper said she was able to lure the kitten out with a can of tuna, which the kitten devoured with alacrity. They were able to bundle up the kitten, named Spot according to social media posts, and get her inside for food and water. Harper had formerly helped to rescue cats while living in Austin, Texas, and was able to put that experience to use.

“We have three cats of our own and so we took it to the garage so it could have some privacy,” Harper said. “We took some pictures and put it on Facebook.”

The social media post was able to connect Harper with the kitten’s human, Cassidy Timm, who had been moving to Haines with Spot’s mother, siblings and several dogs. Timm had posted about the missing kitten and the two were able to coordinate the last leg of Spot’s Southeast Alaska adventure.

Alaska Seaplanes donated space on a Haines-bound flight for Spot, according to a social media post. Spot had arrived home safe and sound, said Timm in a message.

• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.