Just so you know this post is a Care2 favorite. It was originally posted on January 5, 2012.
England: A 15-year-old ginger cat, named after the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist, is more than living up to his name.The 15-year-old Tom even sits on bemused passengers’ laps as the bus makes up to 10 mile round trips from Bridport to Charmouth in Dorset.
Dodger is such a regular customer that some of the drivers take tins of cat food to work with them to give to him. They even know what stop to let him off at.
At the end of his journeys the roving moggy returns to his home and owner Fee Jeanes.
Dodger’s owner, Fee Jeanes, says that he initially started to frequent the bus stop as people gave him scraps food. But then the bus itself became the attraction; like greenhouses, they are sunny and warm, says Jeanes in the Telegraph. Dodger has gone on ten mile round-trips. Jeanes says that her daughter’s friends had indeed seem him on the bus that far away:
“I couldn’t believe it and panicked. I
got into my car to go off and look for him and then at that moment the
bus pulled up near our house and low and behold he got off.
“He had fallen asleep on board and nobody
knew about it. When the driver realised he knew who Dodger was and
where he lived and kept him on board.
“That afternoon I saw Dodger climb on board another bus and I rushed to tell the driver.
“I was shocked when she told me Dodger was always on there…”
The bus company, First, spoke in welcoming tones about Dodger riding
the bus and have only asked the drivers not to feed him, out of concern
that Dodger might prefer the bus over home for food and shelter. A
company spokesman did say that “in principle we do not have a problem
with it being around the bus station,” even adding that
“Given this cat is elderly we suspect it would be eligible for free travel, perhaps a bus puss, if such a thing existed.”
Dodger seems to have made himself quite a fixture on the bus,
sometimes even waiting in the middle of the road for the bus to stop.Pity that more people (at least here in the US) don’t see the benefits of public transportation as much as the Artful Dodger does.
