Tiger the cat reunited with owner after jumping a freight train in Saskatchewan

EDMONTON – A runaway cat from Saskatchewan that jumped a westbound CN freight train to Alberta has been reunited with its owner.

Lynnette Hahn of Melville says she was wondering if Tiger would recognize her, but the tabby came to her right away when she called his name in Edmonton.

CN conductor Brad Slater found Tiger covered in snow and frostbitten under the engine deck during a routine check in Alberta on Sunday.

He believes the cat jumped on the train somewhere between Winnipeg and Saskatchewan and spent up to 12 hours in temperatures as low as -40 C.

Slater named the cat Q-199 – the train identification number – fed him water and beef jerky along the way, and took him home when he reached Edmonton.

Hahn recognized her missing cat while watching a story on CTV news and got in touch with Slater.

“I was shaking and wondering what he would do, and as soon as I started talking and saying, ‘hi, Tiger,’ he came right away,” Hahn said Friday. “He started smelling me and I picked him up and started hugging him.”

Hahn and her husband are retired CN employees.

She said the cat used to hang around the CN yard in Melville before she took him home in 2012 to be a companion animal to her husband, who was battling cancer at the time. (CTV Edmonton, The Canadian Press)