- WHITEHORSE (CP) - The black
cat who caused a huge power failure in Whitehorse last August will be reunited
with his American owner at Christmas, after using up most of his nine lives.
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- Kishka had 34,500 volts of electricity surge through
his body when he jumped on a breaker at the Whitehorse Rapids Dam's power
station Aug. 12. Company staff nicknamed the critter Outage.
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- The three-year-old cat walked away from the incident
and was on his own for more than two months before Darrell Johnson, Yukon
Energy's diesel generation mechanic, was able to trap him.
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- "He was definitely wild," Johnson said of the
first few hours with the cat.
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- Johnson and his wife took the cat to the vet.
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- Hair was starting to grow back on his tail and paw but
there was some pus on his front left paw where the power entered and there
was a large red scar on the top inside part of his back left leg where
the voltage exited.
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- From a microchip identification, the local shelter was
able to find the cat's owner, Emily Drouin, who now lives in Michigan.
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- "I'm the happiest person," Drouin said Friday.
"I can't believe it."
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- Drouin and Kishka had moved to Whitehorse for the summer.
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- Kishka was left in the care of friends while Drouin went
on a canoe trip.
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- She returned to the campground to discover her feline
friend was missing. Despite numerous searches throughout the summer, the
cat was never found.
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- Kishka has had the cat since he was five weeks old.
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- Asked how many lives Kishka has left, Drouin replied:
"Probably not very many, maybe one; and I'm going to make sure I look
after it."
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- Drouin and her fiance are building a house in Lancing,
Mich., where Kishka will move after leaving the Yukon next month for Ottawa.
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- Barb Harris, administrator of the Mae Bachur animal shelter,
will deliver the cat to Drouin's parents in Ottawa.
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- They'll keep him until Christmas, when they'll be visiting
their daughter and Kishka and Drouin will be reunited.
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- © Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press
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