Deaf cat who hitched ride in van is found

A deaf cat who hitched a ride four miles from his home has been reunited with his family.

Dobby jumped on board a delivery driver's vehicle and rode as a stowaway to the Carlton area of Nottinghamshire on 20 May.

On Sunday, the white tom cat went into a trap left in a garden he had been seen in and was collected by rescue charity Beauty's Legacy.

The charity said Dobby was "thin and dirty, but otherwise OK", and was now back home in The Meadows awaiting a full vet's inspection.

Dobby was located in Carlton as he had a tracker tag on his collar, but the trail went cold after he slipped out of it in a garden.

As well as issuing an appeal, Beauty's Legacy installed cameras and food stations in the area to lure him out of hiding.

His owners now plan to install a catio - an enclosed outdoor space to keep cats safe - to stop him getting lost in the future.

A spokesperson for the charity thanked Kurt Mitchell and Evija Hopkins, whose garden Dobby had taken up temporary residence in before being trapped.

They added: "We had a busy time tracking Dobby - daily 40-mile round trips, 4am starts, overnight camera monitoring, mass postering, BBC interviews, social media monitoring and, as always, some hoax calls.

"We have many people to thank."

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