Woman Who Was Stranded In Woods Is Reunited With Escaped Cat

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- An elderly woman who took a wrong turn in her car and was stranded in the woods for days before being rescued by soldiers has found her pet cat more than a month after it escaped when she opened a car window for air.

Jeannette Haskins' daughter found her 4-year-old gray tabby, Mokey, last week in the area where Haskins got lost in July without food or water, the Press of Atlantic City reported.

"We never thought we'd get him," said Haskins, who's 87. "That's a long time for him to be alive in those woods."

Haskins took a wrong turn and got lost on a trip to visit her daughter and granddaughter in Maryland and then got stuck on a dirt road.

Soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard had been training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and were on a scouting mission when they found the Egg Harbor Township woman slumped over in the backseat of her car. She remained unresponsive after they honked the horn several times, but she awoke when a soldier approached her.

Haskins suffered dehydration and possibly heat illness as temperatures reached the upper 90s.

Mokey escaped the car during the ordeal. Haskins' daughter, Bonnie Baker, set out food and traps where Haskins was stranded.

Baker, of Millersville, Maryland, caught five stray cats before Mokey was found on Aug. 29. She called her mother, who asked her to take Mokey to her that night.

"She got down here at 2 a.m. with him, and as soon as he got out of the cage I knew it was Mokey," Haskins said. "He ran right to me and started rubbing his head against me. Now, he just will not leave me alone. He wants to be on me every minute."

Haskins said a microchip confirmed that the cat is Mokey. She said the cat was skinny and covered with fleas when it was found but is in good shape.

(Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)