Hong Kong cat survives six week container ordeal

A globe-trotting cat survived a six-week journey from Hong Kong to Britain inside a shipping container by lapping condensation from the walls, the RSPCA said today.

The bedraggled grey cat was discovered on Tuesday morning inside the container packed with sandpits and paddling pools delivered to the Hams Hall Freight Depot near Coleshill, Warwickshire.

Astonished workers, who made the find and gave the hardy feline a much-needed saucer of milk, named him Felix after Felixstowe, the Suffolk port where the container arrived and transferred by rail to the West Midlands.

RSPCA animal collection officer Tracey Smith, who was called to the depot, said she could not believe Felix had survived the mammoth journey and he may have been just a whisker away from death.

‘‘He was very, very thin and distressed when I removed him from the container but he had calmed down when he arrived at the RSCPA’s animal hospital in Birmingham for a check-up,’’ she said.

‘‘Apart from being thin, he’s in good health.’’

The animal charity is now appealing for someone to adopt him and foot the £800 bill for his six-month quarantine.

RSPCA chief inspector Tim Scott said: ‘‘The RSCPA will foot the quarantine bill temporarily while we try to safeguard Felix’s future.

‘‘If no-one can be found, Felix may have to be returned to the Society for the Protection of Animals in Hong Kong, who have been alerted to his arrival in Britain.

‘‘He’s such a plucky cat, it would be a shame for him not to have a new home waiting for him.’’