Willow the Cat Meets Anderson Cooper

By Jen Doll Fri., Sep. 16 2011 at 9:09 AM

It's no great surprise that the story of Willow the cat, who went missing in Colorado five years ago and was just found on 20th Street in New York City, has captured the hearts and minds of Americans and beyond. After all, she's a cat -- people love cats! -- and the mystery of what she was up to all that time is delicious.

Did she find her own place in Colorado, get a boring 9 to 5 job in, say, insurance, work her way into a cross-country transfer, and then -- numbed by the oppressive dullness of it all, decide to go out on her own and maybe finally make those acting dreams come true in the Big Apple? Was she simply going to pick up her laundry, or maybe check out some head shots, when a man saw her on the street, and, thinking she was a stray, scooped her up and took her to a shelter? What is she thinking? Does she even want to go back to Colorado?

Anderson Cooper is among the many in the media captivated by the story (or at least, his producers are), so she got a guest appearance on his show (preview above), where she was re-introduced virtually to her family and remained a wonderfully catlike blase about it all. Most of our questions remain unanswered, but she is a very cute cat, and we did find out that she is a trained shoulder-climber. Enjoy your 15 minutes, Willow!

Aannnnd....the mystery is over, solved by the folks at Gothamist. Willow was brought to New York by someone who found her as a stray while on a ski trip in Colorado. But we'll always have our fantastical imaginings of her setting out, Jack Kerouac-style, to a destination all her own -- a girl cat with no one telling her what to do.

Previously: Willow, Cat Lost in Colorado 5 Years Ago, Was Found on East 20th Street
NYC's Favorite Transplant/Tourist Is Willow The Cat! [Gothamist]

[JDoll / @thisisjendoll]

Go to Runnin' Scared for all our latest news coverage.

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Mht2528

I am so happy Willow find its owner and kudo to the producer and the media to put this up. Cute story. I have a cat on my own, one thing I learned from Willow's owner it pays to put a micro chip in your pets if they are your family. Things happened. Best of luck to Willow!

Arielle

Anderson - instead of making fluff pieces about cats, why don't you check what really goes on at the New York Animal Care and Control (ACC). On many occasions they forget to check the chip of the animal, put it down without three days of its arrival at the shelter. The ACC is killing around 30 cats and young kittens daily. Have a look at pets on death row facebook page to see the extent of the problem. You would not believe how many cats are slaughtered every single day by the New York city authorities because the city has only got 3 over-crowded shelters - Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island. Recently they've decided to reverse the previous legislation ordering the city to build two more shelters in the city for the remaining boroughs. As a result, the ACC is a pitiful place, with unvarying stuff and hundreds of dead cats every month. That's the real story here, not one particular kitten that got spared.

billyjoe

Sounds like the people working at these shelters could give a shit. But with the overwhelming numbers of stray and discarded pets all over the world, I can understand how they might cop that attitude.

gothamist_tips

I seriously cannot believe you credited this groundbreaking Gothamist exclusive to the Post ("Aannnnd....the mystery is over. Willow was brought to New York by someone who found her as a stray while on a ski trip in Colorado. ") That's just rude. -Jake

Willow the Cat Meets Anderson Cooper

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