ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996 TAG: 9611260105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
THE OWNERS of the black and gray cat say people were amazingly helpful during their search for their missing pet.
``Tommy'' showed up six years ago at the west Roanoke County home of Dan and Bonnie Pollock.
He was a stray cat turned playful family pet, black with bits of gray.
Two weeks ago, he disappeared.
On Nov. 9, a furniture company delivered a sofa to the Pollocks' home. Bonnie Pollock said she remembered Tommy jumping in and out of the delivery truck.
Tommy was not the kind of cat to run off, Pollock said. He stayed close to home. Occasionally, he would visit neighbors.
``That's why we knew something wasn't right when he wasn't there that evening,'' she said. ``My husband said, `I hope he didn't get on that truck.'''
He had.
The Pollocks called the furniture company and pinpointed Tommy's unintended destination as Karen Hills, a subdivision in Salem where the deliverymen had made their final stop that day. They questioned Karen Hills residents.
``Two girls said they saw a black cat sitting in the truck and saw the deliverymen scoot him out and drive off,'' Bonnie Pollock said. One man heard Tommy's loud meow coming from the truck, she said.
The Pollocks and their two children launched a search for Tommy. They posted and handed out fliers. They placed newspaper ads.
They borrowed a trap from Salem Animal Control. They caught a gray cat, a black cat that wasn't Tommy - and a possum.
They changed their answering machine recording to ``If you're calling about a Tommy sighting and you've seen our lost cat, bless you. You can leave us a message or call Salem Animal Control.''
The Pollocks received about 50 calls.
There were lots of leads on cats who fit Tommy's description and sightings of cats who resembled Tommy: Tommy at a back yard birdfeeder. Tommy walking along a riverbed. Tommy in a basement .
``But they weren't the cat or they weren't there,'' Pollock said. ``I didn't know there were so many neutered male black cats loose in the city of Salem.''
Sunday, the Pollocks went to the home of a Roanoke County man who'd called to tell them his grandson had brought home a black cat on Saturday. The man lived at the top of Twelve O'Clock Knob Road, a good distance from the Karen Hills subdivision, where Tommy had been shooed off the furniture truck.
``When I said `Tommy,' he came right over to me,'' she said. ``When we brought him home, I held him down to our other cat and they touched noses. And the dog came to him.
``Then he went straight for the food and laid down. And he looked up at us like `You fools. What's your problem?'''
Pollock said she has been amazed at the community response, the ``hours and hours people spent looking for that cat.''
``I called people last night and heard little kids cheering on the phone,'' she said. ``I have met the nicest people, wonderful people who went out of their way.''
Tommy probably wouldn't have made it home from Twelve O'Clock Knob Road on his own, Pollock said. He would have had to cross the Roanoke River and U.S. 460 to do so, she said.
Salem Animal Control is investigating the circumstances surrounding Tommy's ``relocation,'' Animal Control Officer Linda Albert said.
``The important thing is that Tommy is back home safe,'' Albert said. ``He went through an ordeal for a few weeks. But he's home and he's safe.''
The Pollocks replaced the bright pink lost cat signs that they'd posted all over the city.
The new signs - green ones - say ``Thank you Salem. We found him.''
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER STAFF Tommy rests on the sofa delivered twoby CNBweeks ago, watched over by Kendall (left), 6, and Jordan Pollock,
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