After a decade apart, a New York family has been joyfully reunited with their beloved cat, Asa, who went missing 10 years ago.
The story began when a Good Samaritan brought a stray cat to the Montclair Township Animal Shelter in New Jersey. “And of course, the first thing we do is scan for a microchip,” the shelter wrote on Facebook. That simple scan led to an incredible discovery: the cat belonged to Sean Haberle, who had lived in Montclair when Asa vanished as a kitten.
“BINGO. MICROCHIP AND REGISTERED! The family still had the same phone number,” the shelter shared.
Asa had disappeared after squeezing through an open window screen and climbing into a rain gutter. Haberle’s desperate rescue attempt failed when a ladder gave way, sending him to the ground as Asa bolted away.
“I found her, went to try to save her on a rickety ladder… long story short, the ladder gave out, I went down, and the cat took off,” Haberle told WABC-TV.
For years, the family searched tirelessly—posting flyers, checking shelters, visiting vets, and walking the neighborhood daily. Even after relocating to New York’s Finger Lakes region, they kept Asa’s microchip info up to date.
“We always hoped we’d see her somewhere… and then eventually, she just never turned up,” Haberle said.
No sightings were ever reported, but the family never gave up hope. “My middle son and I talked about it probably a month ago,” Haberle recalled. “I wonder what ever happened to that cat. She was such a sweet cat.”
The microchip scan allowed the shelter to deliver the kind of life-changing news every staff member dreams of sharing. “We made the call every shelter dreams of making,” they wrote.
When Haberle received the call, disbelief turned to joy. “We thought, this is some kind of scam,” he said. “My wife vetted it, and it turned out to be true.”
Thanks to Asa’s cooperation during the full-body scan and the fact that the microchip remained registered with an active number, the reunion was made possible. After 10 long years, Asa is finally home.
