Missing cat reunites with owners whose home crumbled into Alaska river | US News

An Alaska couple lost nearly everything when their entire home crumbled into a river overflowing from a glacial collapse – including their beloved cat Leo.

A video of the large two-story home in Juneau falling into the swollen Mendenhall River on August 5 went viral.

The white and gray-colored house hung at the edge of the river and tilted into the rushing water, then its roof slid off and the walls shattered into a mound of debris.

At the time, Elizabeth Wilkins, a teacher residing in the home, hoped and had faith that their black-and-white cat had survived. She and her partner Tom Schwartz rescued their ‘Covid kitten’ in 2020 and the resilient feline isn’t even afraid of bears.

Twenty-six days later, Tony Mead shared a picture of Leo on the Juneau Community Collective’s Facebook page. Wilkins recognized Leo immediately and contacted Mead.

‘I just started walking down the street calling for him, and he just ran out and was like, “Oh hey, here I am, you know, like, where have you been?”‘ said Wilkins.

‘I knew that he’s pretty smart, and so I felt pretty confident that he would escape and be OK somewhere.’

Wilkins said that Leo was ‘a little thinner but otherwise totally fine’.

‘He ate four cans of tuna and went outside to kill a mouse,’ she said. ‘I imagine that is how he survived.’

Wilkins and Schwartz were away mountain biking in Bend, Oregon, when a side basin of the Mendenhall Glacier, called the Suicide Basin, broke off and caused the flooding. The pair had moved into the home not long before the natural disaster.

A three-story building next to the couple’s home also hung over the river and fell shortly after.

The couple returned three days after the incident to figure out a new home and look for Leo.

‘People have been finding some things, like some of our clothes and pictures were in 4 feet of silt in someone’s yard down the Mendenhall River,’ Wilkins said.

There were several apparent sightings of Leo, but Wilkins said it could have been other black-and-white cats in the neighborhood. Reuniting with Leo has been a bright spot for the couple.

‘It’s super joyful because everyone in their community was looking for him,’ she said, ‘And it’s nice to have some good news.’

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