New York family reunited with cat 10 years after their pet went missing
Sean Haberle, a resident of New York’s Finger Lakes region, was recently reunited with his cat, Asa, after 10 years.
A New York family has been joyfully reunited with their cat, Asa, 10 years after the pet disappeared from their home.
The Montclair Township Animal Shelter in New Jersey announced on Facebook that a Good Samaritan recently brought in a stray cat. The shelter scanned the cat for a microchip, immediately identifying it as belonging to Sean Haberle, who had lived in Montclair at the time Asa went missing. “BINGO. MICROCHIP AND REGISTERED! The family still had the same phone number,” the shelter wrote.
Asa had been adopted as a kitten a decade ago. The cat vanished after squeezing through an open window screen and climbing into a rain gutter. Haberle recalled a failed rescue attempt when a ladder gave way. “I found her, went to save her on a rickety ladder. Long story short… the ladder gave out, and the cat took off,” he told WABC-TV.
The family searched tirelessly for Asa, posting flyers, checking shelters and veterinarians, and walking the neighborhood daily. Even after moving to the Finger Lakes region of New York, they kept Asa’s microchip information up to date.
“No sightings were ever reported,” Haberle said. “We always hoped we’d see her. Eventually, she just never turned up.”
A conversation about Asa just a month ago made the reunion even more remarkable. “My middle son and I wondered what ever happened to that cat. She was such a sweet cat,” Haberle said.
The shelter called the family with the news, which initially seemed too good to be true. “We thought this is some kind of scam,” Haberle said. “My wife vetted it, and it turned out to be true.” Staff confirmed the match during a full-body scan.
The shelter emphasized that this happy ending was possible only because the microchip was properly registered and linked to an active phone number. They used the story to remind pet owners to keep their pets’ information up to date.
In addition, the shelter is asking for help from the community, noting it is in urgent need of cat food donations to support families caring for pets in need.
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