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Missing cat wandering fell found by ramblers

Duncan Hodgson,North East and Cumbriaand
Louise Fewster,BBC Yorkshire
Harvie Strange In the foreground there is a man with a short beard wearing a brown hoodie. On his shoulder you can see the tail and legs of a black and white cat. In the background there is a woman in a white hoodie and blue jeans. There is a child in a sling on her back. There are two other children stood next to her. One has blonde curly hair and the other is wearing a green hat. Behind them there is a waterfall.Harvie Strange
Moonlight Sparkles enjoys going for walks with his family and following ramblers

A cat who enjoys walks with his family has been reunited with them after being found wandering on a moorland fell.

Harvie Strange said seven-month-old Moonlight Sparkles had been missing for several days after vanishing while they were away on holiday.

The footloose feline was about two miles from the family home in Cowgill, Cumbria, when he was discovered by a group of walkers who flagged down a car whose driver just happened to be the owner's neighbour.

Russell Whelan-Smith, who was leading the walk, said the cat joined the group "blazing the trail at the front" and he was astonished the second car they flagged down knew Moonlight Sparkles' owner.

Strange said although a neighbour had been feeding the cat, she believes he had "got lonely" and gone for a "little stroll".

"He likes to follow walkers and he followed us for over a mile when we went to look at a waterfall," she said.

The trekking tom would have had a "hard walk" to reach Great Knoutberry Hill where he was found, Strange added.

Cat rescue 'a first'

The feline's rescuers were on a walk from Dent to Ribblehead organised by the Friends of Settle-Carlisle Line.

Whelan-Smith said although he had rescued lambs in the past, helping a cat was a first.

He said: "It's not a good place for a young cat - its very wild."

The cat got "lots of strokes" and "ate somebody's chicken sandwich," before the group set off walking again, Whelan-Smith added.

The cat followed them for several miles but eventually became confused about his location.

"You could see it going 'I've got no idea where I am.' So it turned around and came back to us," he said.

Friends of Settle-Carlisle Line A woman in a grey jumper is facing away from the camera holding a black and white cat. Another woman, also in a grey jumper, is facing towards the camera standing in the open door of a black car. She is stroking the cat under its chin.Friends of Settle-Carlisle Line
Strange said her family was grateful to the walkers for reuniting them with their pet

When the group reached the road they started to flag down cars.

Whelan-Smith said: "Lo and behold, the second car we flagged down, not only knew somebody with a missing cat, they had their telephone number as well - astonishing."

Strange said she had been in the middle of preparing Halloween activities when she received the call to let her know the missing moggy had been found.

"I had cat ears on which I'm not sure was appropriate," she said.

Along with her husband and her three children, Strange jumped in the car and headed to the scene to retrieve the wandering cat.

She is now considering putting up a sign close to her home with the moseying mouser's mugshot to warn walkers of his escapades.

"We did consider a tracker but they're quite pricey," she said.

"He hasn't roamed yet, but there's time isn't there?"

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