While hiking, Barbra walked through an underpass and was greeted with meows. She meowed back and continued her way.
Three hours later, she passed back through the underpass and heard the meowing again, but this time pleading. She was concerned because she was the last hiker and temperatures were dipping to -10. Worried for the mewer's survival, she followed its pleas and discovered a kitten.
“I waited an hour for a mommy cat, but none arrived,” said Barbra. “The day became colder and darker, so I tucked the abandoned kitten in my fleece jacket. On the drive home, it was so hungry and exhausted that it fell into a deep-snoring sleep.”
The orphan was placed on a shelter’s LOST list, but no one claimed it to Barbra’s joy.
“This sweet girl melts my heart and makes me laugh,” said Barbra. “I named her after the Bandal, a South Korean bear, that resembles her color and markings.
When the kitten was eight months old it was left in Barbra’s roommates care as she flew to South Korea for a job. A year later, the roommate phoned to tell her that Bandal, an inside cat, had jumped out a window and was missing. The roommate searched the small town, in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains where temperatures were below freezing, for a week before phoning Barbra.
What could Barbra do 5,300 miles away? She prayed that God would protect and find her cat and she registered it on PetLynx’s Lost & Found. Two months later, PetLynx emailed her that a female black cat had sought refuge in someone’s garage. It was hungry and suffering from frostbite on its lips and ears. Its microchip verified it was indeed her lost kitty.
Barbra’s now twice-rescued cat was fostered for a year as she finished her work.
“Bella’s warm-hearted foster parents, in that cold weather town, renamed her, Bella, because it was easier for them to pronounce,” said Barbra. “They taught her to walk safely outside on a leash. When we reunited, Bella knew me immediately. Now we are inseparable and have flown together three times to South Korea. On the ten hour flights, there is no problem. She is used to flying across the Pacific Ocean, and two hour cross-country flights, plus riding on trains, cars, taxis and subways. As
long as she listens to my heartbeat she relaxes. In the beginning she’d meow, but when I turn her carrier to face me, she instantly becomes quiet. Now, wherever she goes, she finds peace with me as I do with her.”
When questioned if the kitty wants something or likes something, or if she wants to go for a stroller walk, she gently meows a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response. She learned at an early age that communicating saved her life.
“When we play chase or hide and seek, and she wins, her nose goes in the air and she triumphantly struts passed me like a princess,” laughed Barbra. “I have heard that there is an invisible heart-ribbon connecting a pet to a person. Bella’s two dramatic rescues prove that we are meant to be together.”
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