Feline Stowaways in Shipping Containers

Feline Stowaways in Shipping Containers


Cats love to lounge in boxes, and a shipping container is a palatial box for them to hide in. There have been several occasions of cats sneaking into shipping containers and surviving their journeys. Here are a few felines that got to travel abroad via shipping containers.


In 2011 Douglas disappeared from his home in New Zealand and traveled 2,200 miles to Adelaide, Australia. He was found by someone in the port and after getting a checkup by a vet, he was allowed to return home to New Zealand.

Little Maui

Little Maui ended up on an offshore oil rig after stowing away in a shipping container. The three-month-old kitten was found by workers after they reached Maui B Platform, which is about 30 miles off the coast of Taranaki, New Zealand.

The workers on the rig gave her a can of sardines and water as soon as they found her, and they later coaxed her into a cage, so she could be flown back to the mainland to visit a vet. The vet said the workers went “above and beyond the call of duty to get ‘Little Maui’ safely back on dry land.”

The kitten was given a clean bill of health, and a bath, by the vet, and one of the workers on the rig adopted her.

Ni Hao


This kitten stowed away in a container in 2012 and found herself on a 2,700 journey from China to the United States, with no food and water. As soon as she was found, the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control was called to tend to her.



In 2013, this four-year-old cat traveled from the Philippines to Los Angeles. By the time she was found she was near death because she had not had any food or water during her 7,300-mile trip. After two weeks of treatments, she was in fair condition; eating on her own and gaining weight.


In June 2018 a cat disappeared from his home in Norway. The neighbors of his owners were moving, and he stowed away in their shipping container. When the family opened their container in Iceland, they discovered everything was covered in cat hair and Pus was lurking among their personal belongings. The family knew Pus had been missing and contacted his owners back in Norway to arrange for him to return home


This cat stowed away in a shipping container by crawling into a paper company’s bales. Emily journeyed first from Milwaukie, Wisconsin to Chicago, and from there to Belgium. She was still wearing her collar, so the company was able to contact her family and arrange a trip home for her. Emily had to stay in quarantine for a month before she was flown home to her family by Continental Airlines.


This cat traveled from Egypt to Britain in a container in 2009. He was in bad shape when he was found, for going so long without food and water. Pharaoh was put into quarantine and cared for until he was better. Eventually, the cat was rehomed in Britain.