The strange journey of the cat ‘halfway around the world’ from Turkey to the US

03/29/2022 19:35 GMT+7

The feral cat’s unexpected journey began when 12-year-old Alanur Heidecker heard a small purr inside a trash can on Imbros Island, Turkey.

The strange journey of a cat halfway around the world from Turkey to the US

At that time, Alanur Heidecker was traveling with his mother, she asked her mother Sennur Cinar’s permission to check on the little cat.

Sennur Cinar said: ‘I initially objected when Alanur wanted to find the kitten, but then I changed when I saw that it was so cute and pitiful.

By nature a cat lover, Alanur Heidecker persuaded her mother to allow her to bring cats home to America. Meanwhile, Alanur Heidecker’s family is raising two other cats.

The cat is 2 weeks old, named Bonçuk. In Turkish, it means grain. Sennur Cinar’s reluctant nod was enough to make Alanur Heidecker happy, but the process of bringing the cat back to the US also encountered many difficulties.

Alanur Heidecker took the cat to see a veterinarian for a health check and then brought it to Istanbul before the journey back home to Boston, USA.

However, Turkish Airlines only accepts cats 10 weeks or older. Sennur Cinar had to explain and convince the airline representative a lot, then she was allowed to buy a place for the cat on the flight back to the US.

However, when they arrived at Sennur Cinar airport, they continued to face difficulties because they did not have the cat’s covid negative certificate, so in the end, the mother and daughter had to leave the cat at the customer care department.

Ozan Ulasan, a worker working near the airport took Bonçuk’s cat home to take care of.

When they returned to Boston, Sennur Cinar and his daughter were deeply saddened and felt as though they had lost all hope of seeing Bonçuk again. But again, luck came to the family when the flight attendant helping Sennur Cinar at Istanbul airport contacted her and said she would help bring the cat to the US for a vacation 2 months later.

The cat met Alanur Heidecker again in Boston, USA

Flight attendant Tuğba shared: “My priority is to bring the cat home. That’s what I want to do, I want to do a lot of good in the world. This is definitely one of the best things to do in the world. I can do it with my family.”

Currently, the cat Bonçuk is enjoying a happy, pampered life with two other cats, Nar and Laura, in the Sennur Cinar family in Boston.

“This is really an act of love and kindness. It helps me to believe that there are still so many wonderful things in this life,” Sennur Cinar said.

Hoang Dung (synopsis)