Pittsburg, PA
Cat missing for 1 year reunited with family thanks to microchip
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A cat was reunited with his family after he vanished nearly a year ago.
The reunion happened at Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh on Thursday night, all because the bold kitty was microchipped, and it just happened to be National Check the Chip Day.
The cat, named Juni, has quite a tale to tell.
The family had just moved from Colorado to Pittsburgh, and when they got to their new home, their sneaky grey feline bolted from the car.
“The family just gets to Pittsburgh, and the cat escapes, and they had almost given up hope that they would ever be reconnected,” said Michele Frennier, HARP’s marketing director.
Frennier said the family desperately searched, and another family took Juni in after the escape artist with whiskers showed up on their porch.
“It seems that he was close by, maybe about nine miles away from where the family had moved to where this new family had found him. Taking him in, he was kind of hanging around, so he was well taken care of. After about six to eight months, things weren’t working out. Other cats they had in the home were not getting along. So, they made the decision to surrender him to HARP,” she said.
Juni was in luck when he arrived at HARP. Frennier said they scanned the mysterious cat to find out if he had a microchip, and his true identity was revealed.
“They reached out to the owner that was registered on the microchip, and as they say, the rest is history,” Frennier said.
She said this heartwarming reunion is an important reminder to get your pets microchipped. She said a collar with a tag isn’t always reliable. The permanent identification is implanted under the skin, it’s painless, and doesn’t cost a lot.
“If that pet escapes, something happens, they slip out of that collar. That microchip is there, and, you know, veterinarian offices have them, police stations have them, animal control has them. It’s a very simple way to try and get those pets back to the owners they love,” Frennier said.
That tiny chip made this reunion possible, which was the perfect ending to Juni’s adventurous story.
All pets adopted from HARP are microchipped. Microchipping is available at HARP’s medical center. It costs $30. They also provide chips at low-cost vaccine clinics.
Learn more and how to contact HARP here.
Gas prices continue to sit near the $5 mark for the better part of the Pittsburgh region. Not only is it impacting people’s wallets, but it’s also hitting the bottom lines of first responders’ operations.
While gas prices are not impacting day-to-day operations, budgets are always tight, and if prices stay high, it could have some long-term impacts. First responders say they’ll still come when you call 911, so there’s no need to panic, but there is some concern behind the scenes.
“We can’t charge more for our services. The only way to weather the storm is to become more efficient,” Regional Emergency Support Quick Response Service director Mike Gallagher said.
RESQRS said gas is normally about $2,500 to $3,000 a month. From March to April, it was $5,500. The ambulance they wanted to get this year is now on hold as costs go up.
“It definitely has affected other parts of the business and how we operate,” Gallagher said over Zoom.
It’s the same for volunteer firefighters. Southern Allegheny Valley Emergency Services had its bill go from $300 to $400, up to $1,000 last month. This price spike was, of course, never anticipated when making the budget last year.
“It absolutely wasn’t. We just have to take money from other things and reprioritize,” SAVES fire chief Mike Daniher said.
Medic Rescue in Bridgewater, Beaver County, covers that county and takes patients to Wexford and Pittsburgh hospitals. They easily rack up hundreds of miles a day driving. Insurance doesn’t cover gas spikes, and fuel reimbursements are set from the prior year.
“I don’t see how it would be sustainable in the long term without some changes in financing,” Medic Rescue director of operations Bill Pasquale said.
An immediate impact for many services is putting new equipment on the back burner. While grants can be used for that, there’s no guarantee it’s accepted.
Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh will have afternoon storm chances on Wednesday with gusty winds and lightning
It will be stormy this afternoon, and then cooler for the rest of the work week.
Temperatures then warm up with record-setting temperatures possible early next week. It’s going to be a busy stretch of weather. Let’s get right into it.
Rain chances today are low overall. The headline is the storm chance that occurs this afternoon. Gusty winds, frequent lightning, and isolated but intense downpours are expected as a narrow line of storms develops and rolls through Western Pennsylvania. The line of storms will be intensifying as it moves from the west to the east.
Right now, it looks like the storms will roll through between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
By the time you see this blog, our best chance for morning rain should have come and gone. Rain totals will not be very impressive today; most will see less than 0.05 inches of rain.
That excludes rain coming from afternoon storms.
Afternoon storms could add another fifth of an inch of rain for those who see the most ‘intense’ cells sliding through their areas. Temperatures in the morning are in the 50s. We will quickly rise up to the mid-60s for temperatures this afternoon ahead of storms. Temperatures will then dip back down to the 50s for the rest of the day, with brisk winds coming in from the northwest at around 15 mph.
Thursday highs will only hit the mid-50s.
We stay cool through Friday morning. We’d have to worry about frost on Friday if it wasn’t for the cloud cover that’s expected. Friday highs will be near 70°. Saturday and Sunday highs are expected to hit the low 80s both days.
A perfect ‘storm’ of low humidity levels, plenty of sunshine, and a strengthening sun angle will allow us to potentially see record highs early next week. I have high temperatures in the 90s on both Monday and Tuesday next week.
The record high for Monday is 91°, and that is what I am forecasting for a high.
A small kitten was tied up in a bag and thrown from a moving pickup truck in Warren County, Pennsylvania State Police said.
State police posted on the PSP Tips Facebook page on Tuesday, asking for help figuring out who threw the kitten out of a moving vehicle on Conewango Avenue in Glade Township around 6:45 p.m. on May 4.
Troopers said the kitten, estimated to be six to eight weeks old, was tied up in a black disposable bag. The kitten wasn’t hurt. Police shared a photo of the tiny gray kitten perched on a trooper’s shoulder.
Investigators described the vehicle involved as a white, single-cab Chevrolet pickup truck with no registration plate and rust on the body of the truck. It was seen heading north on Conewango Avenue around 6:45 p.m. on May 4, so anyone with cameras in the area is asked to check their footage between 6:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. that night.
Anyone with information is asked to contact state police in Warren at 814-728-3600 and ask for Trooper Holsopple or Corporal Koebley. People can also call the PSP Tips line at 1-800-472-8477 or submit a tip online.
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