handout

For The Washington Post

Virginia Oliver

Two women from the shoulders up are back to back. The woman on the left wears a gray shirt and frowns. The background behind her is dark blue, and there are lines above her depicting stressful thoughts. The woman on the right wears a purple shirt and is smiling. The background behind her is yellow and there are sparkles around her head.

The Washington Post

inspired-life-positive-news

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Man, 91, shocks tiny firehouse with $500K gift: ‘Nobody knew how much I’d saved’

Retired cop meets abandoned baby he helped 23 years ago: ‘What are the odds?’

I used to dismiss my mom’s advice. Then I found a note she wrote before she died.  

Woman who punched crocodile to save twin awarded medal by King Charles

Trade pact would be a bonanza for Africa — if it can be made to work

14 dead after massive billboard in Mumbai collapses on gas station

Haiti’s plight is a case study in the ‘responsibility to protect’

No, Apple, people do not want tech to crush everything in its path 

The urgent air defense lessons of April 16 

Tired of overcrowded national parks? Here’s how to go backcountry camping.

Pete Buttigieg’s view from the middle seat

Airlines are trying to stop Biden from enforcing ‘junk fees’ rule

Can you spot bad financial advice on TikTok? Take our quiz.

5 myths about Social Security as the program faces a funding crisis

Social Security has to be fixed. But you still need your own savings.

Ask Amy: What if the mysterious mourner at my dad’s memorial is my brother? 

Miss Manners: My relative’s memoir was poorly written and boring

Carolyn Hax: Is it ‘charming’ to stage a surprise wedding at a family reunion?

Biden once nearly died of an aneurysm. Risky surgery changed his life.

Election 2024 latest news: Primary elections today in Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia

Michael Cohen outlined a crime. Did he prove that Trump committed one?

The wacky, grueling bike race that captivates a Midwest college town

Biodegradable fabric might be the next best thing in clothing

Are home prices still rising? See how prices have changed in your area.

How the authoritarian Middle East became the capital of Silicon Valley

These four searches show how Google is changing

OpenAI wants users to act natural around ChatGPT

Ted Leonsis remains interested in buying the Nationals

Senator will block RFK site bill unless team honors family of logo creator

Nationals-White Sox rained out; Josiah Gray edges closer to return

Angela Alsobrooks Wins Maryland Senate Seat 

Courtesy of Carrie Clark

Carrie Clark’s cat mysteriously went missing, causing her and her husband to panic. They <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1499572326978501/search/?q=galena" target=_blank>posted on social media</a> and distributed fliers in and around their neighborhood in Lehi, Utah.

“We were frantically searching for her for a week,” said Clark, whose 6-year-old indoor shorthair cat, Galena, disappeared on April 10. “We tore our home up trying to find her.”

Seven days into their search, they were beginning to lose hope. Then Clark got a call from Southern California: A veterinarian said Galena had been found 630 miles away from home. Clark thought it was some kind of prank.

“I was completely shocked,” Clark said. “I did not believe her.”

Clark was told that Galena had been found at an Amazon return warehouse, inside a 3-by-3-foot cardboard box — next to several pairs of steel-toed boots that Clark’s husband, Matt Clark, had returned. Clark and her husband started sobbing.

“When we realized she was in that box, we broke down in tears,” Clark said.

The couple said they were overjoyed that Galena was safe but also distraught that she was trapped in a box for a week. How on earth, they wondered, did this happen?

Carrie Clark

They realized Galena must have slipped inside the return box while Matt Clark went to grab some tape to close it up. He sealed the box and didn’t give it another thought.

“She is the kind of cat who is very quiet and loves to hide,” said Carrie Clark. “She’s not a big meower.”

Clark said her husband didn’t hear a peep as he packaged up the box of shoes and delivered it to the post office. The parcel weighed about 35 pounds.

“Adding a little 10-pound cat in there, he didn’t even notice the weight difference,” Clark said.

Galena spent six days — without food or water — trapped inside the cardboard box, until Amazon employees found her at 1 a.m. in Riverside, Calif. The story of the stowaway cat spread rapidly online and was reported by <a href="https://ksltv.com/639614/utahns-reunited-with-pet-cat-they-accidentally-shipped-with-amazon-return/" target=_blank>local news</a>.

Brandy Hunter

“They opened it and had eyes looking at them,” said Brandy Hunter, a process assistant at Amazon. “Everybody screamed because they had no idea what was looking at them.”

Hunter wasn’t working that evening, but she got a call from her co-worker who was on duty to let her know about the frightened-looking feline that arrived at the facility. Hunter — who calls herself a “crazy cat lady” and rescues cats in her spare time — grabbed a cat carrier, a blanket, food, water and dishes and drove there right away.

“She sounded frantic and scared and didn’t know what to do,” Hunter said of her co-worker.

When Hunter arrived, the cat seemed petrified and was huddled in the corner of a room.

“The cat was very disoriented and very weak,” Hunter said. “It’s absolutely incredible that she survived.”

There was a small split in one of the edges of the box, allowing air to flow to Galena, Clark said. Plus, the weather during the journey was relatively mild.

Hunter took Galena home that night. Based on the cat’s demeanor, including that she was willing to go into a carrier, “I knew she was somebody’s,” Hunter said. From the start, she believed whoever was responsible for shipping the box with the cat had no idea what they had done.

“I knew 100 percent this was an accident,” Hunter said. “There are so many people who don’t understand how this could happen, but they’ve obviously never owned a cat.”

She hoped the cat might have a microchip and brought her to the vet the following morning.

“I knew that backtracking this package through Amazon was going to take way longer,” she said, explaining that customer addresses are not visible to her and her co-workers for privacy reasons. “I knew the best option would be to check her chip.”

The vet was able to quickly identify Clark as Galena’s owner and gave her a call. The Clarks booked the next flight to Los Angeles.

“We jumped on a plane as fast as we could,” Clark said.

Hunter took Galena home for a second night and brought her back to the vet’s office for a checkup and to meet the Clarks.

“I was scared of what kind of shape she would be in,” Clark said.

Although Galena was dehydrated and had lost some weight, she was otherwise in good health.

“Mama’s here now,” <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1174776132/videos/pcb.10232861342613913/1138654774026367" target=_blank>Clark told Galena while holding her in her arms</a>.

As a cat lover, the reunion was emotional for Hunter, too.

“It was the sweetest moment, and I’m so happy I got to be a part of it,” said Hunter, adding that in the two days she had Galena, she developed a soft spot for her. “I told Carrie that if it turned out she wasn’t microchipped, she would have been taken care of. I would have kept her.”

Clark is grateful Hunter kept Galena safe after the distressing ordeal.

“There are good people in this world,” Clark said. “Brandy Hunter is one of those people, and we are so thankful for all of her heroic efforts to save Galena.”

Hunter said she plans to stay in touch with Galena via FaceTime.

Galena arrived home on April 19 after a 10-hour drive, and the Clarks said they are still in disbelief that their cat is alive and well after an awful voyage.

“I can’t believe I have her back again,” Clark said. “The circumstances were just totally against us. How everything lined up to get her back has been miraculous.”

Clark knows Galena’s story very easily might not have had a happy ending and said she hopes others can learn from her husband’s mistake, and her cat’s sneaky ways.

“We encourage all pet owners to please consider microchipping their pets,” Clark said. “And triple-check those Amazon boxes.”

McGill University, BA

Columbia University, MS in journalism 

Sydney Page is a staff reporter who writes for The Washington Post’s Inspired Life section, a collection of stories about humanity. She has been a contributor to The Post since 2018.

Sydney Page

washpost

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

the-washington-post

name

prism://prism.query/site,/lifestyle/inspired-life?limit=20

Inspired Life

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/lifestyle&limit=20

Lifestyle

Washington Post Lifestyle gives you the latest fashion and beauty trends, home d&eacute;cor pointers, food and recipe ideas and reviews, relationship advice, travel ideas, wellness tips and much more.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/national&limit=20

National

The Washington Post's national news coverage. Get the latest national news, featuring national security, science and the courts. Read breaking national news headlines from across the U.S.