Strafford Man’s Cat
Is One Lucky Feline
By Martha Slater

When a strong thunderstorm hit the area around mid-day on Monday, July 9, Scott Traudt had just gotten into his car outside his home at the top of Kibbling Hill in Strafford.

After a wild and wooly eight-mile ride down Route 110 in torrential rain, high winds, thunder and lightning, Traudt arrived at the Chelsea Station on the green in South Royalton. Exiting his vehicle, he heard an unearthly howling coming from underneath, and discovered his one-year-old pet cat, Tiger Mo, "clinging to the axle, with his front paws on the gas tank. He didn’t look too happy! He had that water-logged, windblown, European runway model look!" Traudt said.

A gray and black striped Maine coon cat, Tiger Mo has probably used up one of his nine lives, according to his relieved owner, who was astonished that his pet had held on the whole way without falling off into the road.

"He could have been killed and I would never have known what happened to him," Traudt said. "I think he’s the luckiest cat in the world!"

Traudt, who said he plans to look under his car from now on, added that as soon as he got off the phone after calling the Herald office, he planned to buy Tiger Mo a treat and give him a ride back home—in the front seat this time.

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