Finding Primrose, the most famous cat in West London
Over the weekend I popped over to my neighbour, also called Sam, as she had mentioned to me that she had a great story of community spirit.
One Saturday morning last month, Primrose, their one year old white ragdoll cat, vanished. Sam and her family set to work. They started knocking on doors either side, they put posters up on our street but there was no sign of Primrose. By Sunday morning some of their local friends joined them – more door knocking and more posters and a campaign to find Primrose started on facebook and streetbank.
As Sunday progressed there was still no sign so they hired a duo of pet detectives, a couple of female ex coppers who claimed an 80% success rate. 200 posters went up across the neighbourhood offering a £50 reward and a systematic door to door search, a dragnet, was instigated. Now the community was really involved too. Sam was receiving calls from neighbours offering sympathy and asking for updates, people were hanging out of windows asking Sam “Have you found Prim?!”
A Neighbourhood Watch member claimed a sighting ten streets away but when the pet detectives visited, still, there was no sign of Prim. Then, finally, on Tuesday morning another call came in to the pet detectives 24 hr hotline, this time from a little girl who had spent the last two days doing her own personal search. They rushed over in their Pet Van to find Prim sunning herself on the windowsill not far from the previous sighting.
Prim was reunited with a joyous Sam and the little girl insisted on donating the £50 to a pet charity. The whole experience made Sam feel incredibly proud of the neighbourhood in which she lives and grateful for the thoughtfulness, determination and community spirit so many people had showed her and Prim - the most famous cat in West London.
Sam and the Streetbank Team