Little Puss the cat who went missing 10 years ago reunited with owners after being found just two miles away

• Pet was seven-month-old kitten when it went walkabout from Surrey home
• Owner Melanie Ashlin now has a raft of other pets and two grandchildren
• Moggie was wandering just a few miles from the house he walked out on
• Microchip revealed where animal had come from after he was sent to vets
• Cat weights three times what he did and now he 'doesn't stop eating'

A missing moggy that vanished from his home has been found ten years after he first disappeared - two miles away and three times as big.

When the cat, named Little Puss, vanished in 2003 from Melanie Ashlin’s home in Outwood, Surrey, he was a seven-month-old kitten. Melanie’s daughter Hollie was still at primary school.

Hollie is now 19 and a dairy farmer - and Little Puss has been piling on the pounds.

Melanie said: 'His name’s a bit out of date now though - he's massive and perhaps we should start calling him Big Puss!'

When Little Puss left he was a slimline 4lbs. Now he has tripled to a curvier 12lbs.

'He’s very fat and he doesn't stop eating,' Melanie said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2218421/Little-Puss-cat-went-missing-10-years-ago-reunited-owners-just-miles-away.html#ixzz29evQU74n

Indian Star Tortoises Sent Home via Herp Digest

TRAFFIC- Jakarta, Indonesia, 12th March 2012—19 Indian Star Tortoises seized in Indonesia’s largest airport, Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta, have been returned to India, their country of origin. 

It is the first occasion tortoises seized in Indonesia have been returned to India. 

“Although the number of tortoises represents a tiny fraction of those being trafficked, their repatriation is symbolic of the growing commitment, dedication and co-operation between enforcement officers within Asia to tackle rising wildlife crime in the region,” said Chris R. Shepherd, Deputy Regional Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

The animals were part of a seizure made by Customs in Jakarta on 7th November 2011 after an Indonesian woman was stopped returning to Indonesia from Bangkok, Thailand, with the tortoises and various snakes, but without the necessary permits.

Although her cargo included 47 Indian Star Tortoises, 27 of them were already dead or died shortly after she was stopped. A further tortoise died in the quarantine station awaiting repatriation. 

Care and return of the tortoises was co-ordinated in Indonesia by Customs, Quarantine and the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation.

The tortoises have been sent to Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP), Chennai, from where it is anticipated they will soon be released into the wild.

Indian Star Tortoises Geochelone elegans are native to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and are protected by law in all three countries as well as protected through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). 

Indian Star Tortoises are extremely popular as pets in Jakarta and other parts of South-East Asia, and illegal trade to meet this demand is considered one the greatest threats to their survival.

“Authorities in Southeast Asia need to demonstrate to smugglers, traders and buyers that the illegal trade in Indian Star Tortoises and other reptiles will not be tolerated,” said Shepherd. 

“Traders illegally selling reptiles and other animals need to be put out of business and behind bars.”