By: Melissa Zhao

Recently on April 10, Galena, a shy house cat, ‘vanished’ from her home in Utah without a trace. Six days later, Galena was found in an Amazon Return Box hundreds of miles away in Los Angeles.

The Utah couple were worried and perplexed when their six year old cat, Galena, mysteriously disappeared from their home. Her owners were frantically looking everywhere and couldn’t figure out how she could vanish into thin air. A week later, when they were notified that Galena had been found in Los Angeles in an Amazon warehouse.

Brandy Hunter, an Amazon worker, had found Galena, emaciated and meowing, in a return box full of boots. She rescued her, caring for her for a night and taking her to the veterinarian the next day. Galena had survived for six days without any food or water thanks to mild weather conditions and a broken seam in the side of the box which allowed her to breathe.

When Carrie Clark and her husband received the text that Galena had been found in California, “I ran to tell my husband that Galena was found and we broke down upon realizing that she must have jumped into an oversized box that we shipped out the previous Wednesday,” Carrie Clark, Galena’s owner, said.

The next day, Carrie Clark and her husband flew to California to have a tearful reunion with Galena, and despite being without food and water for six days, she was completely unharmed and happy to be safe with her family again.

Galena’s survival was a miracle and a “tender mercy,” as Carrie Clark said, and to finally be reunited with her beloved cat after a week of desperate searching was relieving. The couple believed that Galena had snuck into the Amazon Return box as they were packing it up, and since the box was already very heavy, neither of them had noticed Galena’s extra weight.

“She doesn’t meow a lot and she loves boxes, so for her, she was really happy in that moment, I’m sure,” Carrie Clark said. “Although I’m sure that wasn’t the case later on.” Since Galena was a quiet cat, the couple did not have any idea that Galena was hidden in the box.

Carrie Clark and her husband are finally reunited with their beloved cat, Galena, who was found 650 miles away from her home in Utah in an Amazon Return Package. Galena was extremely lucky to survive through the rough journey without food and water for six days.

Article Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/us/amazon-package-cat-utah-california.html