(12/1/2018) Black Berry the cat caught a flight home to California Tuesday morning thanks to a loving family that never gave up hope. Black Berry was brought in as a stray after getting away from the family in August. They were heartbroken. Fortunately he had a microchip so his owners were contacted and arranged his flight home.

Here’s the families’ story:

“We are a Marine family and I have been serving for 19 years (4, January 2019). I received orders to California and had to transition from North Carolina. We utilized the time allotted to do a cross country road trip. We were headed to Mt. Rushmore and had previously stopped in Badlands National Park and made our way to Rapid City to stop for the night.
In the morning when we were loading up to head out to Mount Rushmore we realized Black Berry had somehow slipped away undetected. After a few hours of searching we had to move forward with the plan of the day. After visiting Mount Rushmore we headed back to Rapid City to search for him with no luck.
We finally arrived in California and contacted the Humane Society on several occasions and they stated that he had not been recovered. We kind of gave up hope but my daughter Emma prayed daily for his return; she personally always believed in her heart that he would make his way back into our lives. Needless to say we were all in shock, disbelief and overwhelmed with joy when we found out he had been recovered.
Black Berry was a rescue, he was at our house one day in December 2016. I fed him once and that was it – he never left our home. He became part of the family and we never considered giving him up when we found out we had received orders. He is a great cat, not needy and fits right into our lifestyle. We all appreciate his company when he feel like being social. (Ha Ha).”

Jodie takes Black Berry out of his kennel for the last time as he starts his journey home.

 

 

Shawna, left, and Connie at Delta got Black Berry checked in at Rapid City Regional Airport.

 

 

 

 

Home safe and sound! Briana and Emma will probably be spoiling Black Berry for a while.