The Basin family erects billboard to find lost pet cat Willow, missing since the New Year
A family in Melbourne’s outer east has stepped up the ante in their desperate search for their beloved pet cat, who has been missing for almost 50 days.
Outer East
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A family in Melbourne’s outer east have gone to extraordinary lengths to find their beloved pet cat who has been missing for almost 50 days.
The Basin family has not only plastered trees in the local neighbourhood with laminated A3 posters of nine-month-old Willow, but they have also erected a billboard in a desperate bid to be reunited with their feline friend.
Owner Julianne Beck said they had also started a Facebook page called Find Willow to communicate sightings and updates with the kitty’s admirers.
Ms Beck said Willow went missing on New Year’s Eve or the day after from their Academy Drive property and hadn’t returned since.
She said there had been five genuine sightings since the billboard went up just over two weeks ago.
Their feline’s disappearance has been especially hard for Ms Beck’s nine-year-old daughter Sienna, who had slept with Willow every night from the time she was 11 weeks old until she went missing.
“She’s pretty flat, she says it’s so lonely without Willow and she doesn’t want to go into her bedroom without her,” Ms Beck said.
“I really want this cat back – it’s my birthday on Sunday and I don’t want anything else.”
She said she constructed the billboard out of desperation to find Willow.
“I’ve got a big movie poster that I just turned over,” Ms Beck said.
“I thought it had been a month so I needed to step up the ante.
“I saw pets being shipped off the coast of Mallacoota and the bushfires affected areas, as they should be because our animals are very much family members, and I just wanted to make people in my community care about our Willow enough to help us find her.
“The sign has definitely helped.”
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Ms Beck said she was away on holidays at the time Willow went missing but returned straight away when her children told her the news.
She said Willow was friendly, sassy and was probably trying to find other cats to befriend and play with.
Anyone who sights Willow is urged to contact Ms Beck straight away on 0419 557 129.