Beans the cat's epic journey to Coventry suggests a better fate for legions of lost pets

When Beans the cat went missing from his home in Cumbernauld, his owners “searched and searched”, but to no avail. Eventually, they began to think, as many would, that “something must have happened to him”.

Once upon a time, that would have been the end of the story. However, thanks to the wonders of modern technology – in this case, a microchip – they have now been reunited, after Beans was discovered some 300 miles away in Coventry. How he travelled so far is a mystery, although cats have been known to hitch a lift with an unsuspecting motorist.

It makes one think of all the lost pet cats of the past, the source of much heartbreak after it was assumed that they had come to a sticky end. Instead, they may have actually travelled to places even more exotic than Coventry.

Perhaps it’s better to imagine they became a river boat cat on the Nile, the feline street star of the spice markets of Zanzibar, or the mayor of a small town in America (it’s happened). Or, better still, get our pets microchipped.