‘We love you, Elwood’: Fans rejoice at return of stolen hospital cat

10 hours ago 3

He’s a much loved mascot of Melbourne’s Epworth hospital, so staff and patients responded with shock and outrage to rumours that Elwood the cat had been catnapped.

It sounded absurd, but it was true. After being missing for almost a week, it emerged that the missing 14-year-old feline had not been run over, nor locked in someone’s shed.

Elwood the cat with Epworth hospital staff members Jacqui Dingle, Diana Lee and Romi Basiri.

He had been stolen, and sold on Facebook marketplace for $150.

Happily, he was found safe and well. But hospital staff, patients and visitors are still recovering.

According to Elwood’s owner Juliette Williams, the cat disappeared on June 11 and six days later, staff at a vet practice in the outer suburb of Pakenham, 50km south-east of Williams’ home in Richmond, called her.

They had identified Elwood from his microchip.

Juliette Williams, owner of Elwood the cat, pictured with him outside at Epworth hospital in Richmond.

Williams said Elwood’s online buyers told her something seemed not quite right about the people who handed them the cat in a Pakenham supermarket car park, so they brought him to the vet.

A little shell-shocked at first, Elwood stayed home for two days, but on the third day padded across Erin Street, Richmond, to the hospital’s front garden to resume being the Epworth Cat.

Williams has no objection. “If we could keep him in, we would, but he’s kind of dedicated to his job,” she said.

“It’s like you can’t stop him. This is what he wants to do.”

Elwood the cat with Epworth hospital staff Diana Lee, Jacqui Dingle and Romi Basiri in the background.

On Friday Elwood was sunbaking, strolling around, and enjoying receiving pats and the odd cuddle.

Jacqui Dingle, a nurse unit manager in the Epworth’s orthopedics department says her reaction to the reports of a theft were “is this a made up story? I don’t know why anyone would steal a cat”.

“It was a scandal,” Dingle said, of the mood at the hospital.

“Everyone was saying, ‘Who could take Elwood? How could they do this’? It was outrage.”

Her message now is: “We love you Elwood, and we’re so glad you’re back.”

On stressful days at work, interacting with an animal can bring joy, Dingle said. “He just brings happiness to everyone.”

Diana Lee, a structural heart coordinator at the hospital, said she was “happy he’s back where he belongs” and says he cheered-up staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Romi Basiri, a prosthesis co-ordinator, said: “It’s a relief that he’s back. Because we love him. He’s like family to us.”

The name tag attached to Elwood’s collar.

Similar messages inundated Elwood’s Instagram fan account, elwood_security_cat, (a reference to his name tag), which has more than 10,000 followers.

One post said “so happy he is back home, he saved my emotional well-being for 3 months. I was there for spinal surgery recently. Woo hoo so glad [he] is home.”

Another said: “OMG I was at the Epworth as a patient and I tell you this gorgeous creature would make you feel so much better by simply coming up to you and putting a smile on your face.

“Cannot believe there are idiots out there trying to rob pets and sell them ... hope this never happens again.”