Sometimes they come back

Nine amazing stories about how pets found their way home despite huge distances and obstacles.

Irish Terrier Prince

In 1914, Private James Brown from Staffordshire was called to the front — Brown was in one of the first regiments sent to France for the war. He had to leave his pet Prince at home. Despite the fact that the Prince was left in the care of his family, and not strangers, the dog still missed his master so much that one day he disappeared. Brown's wife wrote to him about this in a letter, but the letter arrived too late: shortly before receiving the mail, the Prince and James were reunited. The dog found his master in the French trenches, having crossed the English Channel, and was ready to fight with him against the Germans. The detachment made the Prince its mascot and kept him, and the dog, in gratitude, performed the function of a postman, passing notes on the battlefield.

Australian healer Sophie Tucker

Ian Griffith was vacationing with his family on a yacht and sailing in a storm when pet Sophie Tucker fell overboard. Jan thought that the dog had drowned, lost all hope of saving the pet in such a storm and went on his course. Sophie Tucker not only did not drown, but also experienced a lot of adventures: she swam 10 km side by side with sharks (it was not far from the Australian coast), landed on an almost uninhabited island and hunted wild goats there for four months to get food for herself. Sophie was discovered by rangers who were worried that someone was stealing and killing the goats, and then they returned home using the address tag.

Mongrel cat Badger

The owners of the three - year - old cat Barsik from Rostov-on-Don gathered to visit relatives on Ukraine to the city of Krasnodon. They decided to take their pet with them, without asking if the Badger wanted to leave his home at all. Quite predictably, but the Badger, who arrived in Krasnodon and was released from the bag, was instantly frightened by the barking of dogs and unfamiliar terrain, broke away from the owners and ran away — and not somewhere, but home, across the border. Five weeks later, the Badger found himself on the doorstep of a house in Rostov-on-Don, emaciated, with a slight paw strain, but obviously happy.

Siamese cat Semyon

In 1987, the family of Murmansk Sinishins lost their cat Semyon, returning from Moscow, and returned to Murmansk "orphaned". However, the obstinate cat did not accept this course of events, spent six years wandering to return home, and finally got there. The case turned out to be so extraordinary that Semyon was written about in Murmansk newspapers, a short film "Love Story" was shot, and already in 2012 a monument was erected to him. Now a sad bronze cat with a bundle is sitting on a bench near Semenovsky Lake in Murmansk: they say if you scratch him behind the ear and make a wish, it will come true.

Half-breed Scottish collie and English shepherd Bobby

In 1923, while traveling in Indiana, a two-year-old dog, Bobby, got lost. The owners searched for him for several days, but could not find him and went home to Silverton, Oregon. Six months later, Bobby showed up at the door of the Oregon house: emaciated, with bleeding paws. Bobby walked through almost half of the country, in winter, through plains, mountains, deserts, swamps, rivers and lakes to be with his masters — according to estimates, he had to walk about 23 km a day. His story touched Americans so much that a silent film "The Call of the West" was even made about Bobby and several monuments were erected in Silverton, and a children's parade is still held there every year in honor of him.

Tony the Cocker Spaniel

In 1945, the Dulen family moved from Aurora, Illinois, to East Lansing, Michigan. It was decided not to take Tony's black Cocker spaniel with him, but to leave him to live with friends in his hometown. Tony, unable to bear such betrayal, did not stay with family friends and a few days after the departure of the owners also disappeared. Five weeks later, Mr. Doolen, returning home from work, saw a disheveled, dirty and thin dog, similar to Tony: the dog wagged his tail and barked happily. At first, Mr. Doolen doubted that it was his Tony, but when he saw the address tag on the collar, there was no doubt left — it was a pet that has never been left since and has always been carried with him.

Yosuke the Parrot

When the Japanese parrot Yosuke got tired of sitting in his cage, he simply flew out of it through the window. Big Tokyo, however, seemed to Yosuke less cozy than a cage, and very soon the prodigal parrot wanted to go home. When the police found the parrot on the roof of one of the Tokyo houses and took it to the vet, Yosuke clearly, as he was taught, gave his name: "My name is Yosuke Nakamura", the address, and then performed several joyful songs, adding to this a request to take him home. The family, when the parrot returned there, was very pleased that it had not spent two years in vain to teach Yosuke these important words.

Emily 's domestic mongrel cat

Leslie and Donnie Mcaleany from Appletown, Wisconsin, somehow discovered that their one-year-old cat Emily had disappeared. As it turned out later, Emily accidentally jumped into a container with waste paper during a walk, which, in turn, stood in the back of a truck that was going to Chicago to go from there to Belgium and then to France. It was there that Emily was discovered by the workers of the paper-processing factory, exhausted and dying of thirst. Fortunately, Emily had a collar with an address tag, and she was quickly returned home, sent on a Continental Airlines flight.

Jack Russell Terrier Jarvis

The owner of the restless Jack Russell Jarvis lost it when Jarvis tore after the bird into the bushes while she and her two-year-old granddaughter were walking in a park in Cornwall. Both searched and called Jarvis, but to no avail, so they had to return home to Devon without a dog. On the way, they were putting up ads, and one was answered by a woman who called and reported that Jarvis had been seen on the ferry from Cornwall to Plymouth. No sooner had the owners hung up the phone than they found Jarvis calmly mincing home from the ferry.

Why is this happening?

Mark Beckoff, behavioral ecologist from The University of Colorado, cannot explain this phenomenon: "Pets have never been examined for their navigation in space. Migrating species are another matter: birds, turtles, insects. Yes, we know for sure that they find their way home by the sun, navigate by the Earth's magnetic pole, and also use olfactory signals."

Dr. Bradshaw from Cambridge University, like his other colleagues, suggests: the fact that dogs most often find their way home is explained by their kinship with wolves, and they navigate the terrain using magnetic signals. And cats, on the contrary, smell very well, even for many kilometers, and go to him, cutting distances.

National Geographic and The University of Georgia in 2011 created a new study - Kitty Cams Project, which allows you to see the secret life of a cat. 55 pets had small cameras attached to their collars, which filmed what the cat saw and where she went. In particular, the study revealed that some cats live in two houses (which their owners do not suspect): in one they receive food, and in the other, say, love and affection.

In 1954, another experiment was conducted in Germany: cats were placed in a circular maze with exits located in it every 15 °. Most cats chose the exit closest to home from it. The only problem is that if the maze was installed at a distance of more than five miles from home, the cats' "accuracy" dropped and they began to go out to any other exits.