"Hobs," DSH, Black, Oakland - Found!

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On September 4, I received an email that Hobs had been found. He was suddenly appeared in the neighborhood of his home, one week after he went missing.

His person said she did not believe that Hobs had ever left the neighborhood since, she said his pads showed no road wear. She did acknowledge that he was skinny and dirty and appeared tired, though saw no outside physical wear like wounds or scratches. I reminded her that during the search I did suggest to keep up flyers in her neighborhood in case Hobs returned to the general area, which a lot of cats and dogs do, even after extended periods of time. At the time I told her that, she was very skeptical that he could ever find his way back to his neighborhood. I tried to console her at the time that cats were very good trackers and could find their way back. 

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Search details:

Hobs is a 13 year old, all black 14 pound, indoor/outdoor DSH. When he went missing he was not wearing a collar, but he is microchipped. 

He was last seen on a Tuesday evening at 9 PM on the back deck of his home, in which he had recently moved to. We did the search on Friday morning. There were no sightings of Hobs after he went missing, even after an extensive search of the area by his person. 

Hobs' home is on an acre in the Oakland Hills, and is not fenced. There is a large, expansive and rural canyon that is the back of his home. Since it was not known how he left the property, we first had to check for a current track in all the area that surrounds the home. This area is extremely hilly with windy, narrow and steep roads. 

Dino found Hobs' track leading away from the hillside in which the home sits. This street is only one of two roads leading out of the area. The other is uphill and several miles in the opposite direction. 

For the first day, we followed the track out of the area and toward the area of Hobs' former home, but then the track turned in another way, and into another canyon leading away from the two homes. The search was stopped after five exhausting hours in high heat and hill climbing. Hobs' person asked me to come back the next day to continue the search. 

We started the next day at 7 AM, hoping to beat the heat, but unfortunately, the hillside fog burned off early, and soon we were in high heat again. We followed his track for another five hours, when it was called off by Hobs' person. She said she would continue to search for Hobs.

My best guess is that Hobs was chased off by some type of wildlife that lives in the steep canyon behind his home. Hobs and his other kitty buddy had only lived there for one month/

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Day #1:


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Day #2:


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