Cat cruising on roof of SUV saved before reaching the highway in Flagstaff

Cat on roof of SUV before reaching Flagstaff highway

A cat found on the roof of a moving SUV was saved by a Good Samaritan in Flagstaff. FOX 10's Steve Nielsen has the story.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - At High Country Humane, nearly every animal has a unique story about how it ended up in this situation. But only one animal was found going 30 miles per hour.

The 8-year-old cat, Liam, is down to 8 lives, but at least she has that many thanks to David Giuseppone.

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Photo courtesy of David Giuseppone

He owns Wulf Towing in Flagstaff, but his real passion is animals. He’s trapped and saved plenty of animals over the years, but nothing beats what happened Monday.

Here's what happened:

"'Meow, meow, meow,' and I’m looking, I’m looking. Maybe it’s one of the neighborhood cats, but I see a cat riding on top of a late-model Ford Explorer on the roof rack," Giuseppone said.

He took a video that starts as he’s running towards the car, helping to stop it on the side of the road. You can just barely see a cat jump from the roof.

"Just happy that the cat got off the vehicle before (its) on Route 66. That would’ve been a heck of a lot more challenging to get them back," David recounts.

He thinks Liam was lounging on the roof of the car when it took off down the road. "Just chilling in the shade, car took off and he’s very non-reactive so sounds and noises and people don’t really bother him," David explained.

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After Liam jumped down, he ran into the road scared, but thanks to David and another bystander, Liam was corralled, saved and taken to High Country Humane.

Liz Olson from High Country Humane describes it as, "sort of a unique, wild story."

What's next for Liam the cat?

She says they were excited when they found Liam had a microchip, but then disappointed when the info was disconnected.

"I would say more than 50% of the time microchips are not registered. Contact information has changed and those loose ends are never really figured out for the animals going out for adoption," she explains.

So David is now on a mission to find the cat's family.

"Let's find his primary home that would be sick, but yeah if not, I’ll take him in a heartbeat," says David with a hopeful tone.

So if this is your cat, call High Country Humane.