Courtesty photo/ Robin Wiesneth Tucker, a 5-year-old family pet belonging to Robin Wiesneth, of Florida, was lost following a fatal vehcile accident on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 on the Kenai Spur Highway.

Courtesty photo/ Robin Wiesneth Tucker, a 5-year-old family pet belonging to Robin Wiesneth, of Florida, was lost following a fatal vehcile accident on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 on the Kenai Spur Highway.

Florida woman remains in Alaska to find missing cat

One Florida woman’s concern for her lost cat is keeping her in Alaska in the wake of a fatal vehicle accident, and sheds light on a statewide animal issue.

Robin Wiesneth, 50, had been vacationing in Alaska with her husband since May.

Their travel plans were brought to an abrupt halt when they were involved in an collision with a pickup truck on the Kenai Spur Highway on Aug. 5, in which two people died.

While Wiesneth and her husband, Charles, came out of the accident with minor injuries, the 5-year-old cat traveling with them has gone missing, and Wiesneth said she is doing everything in her power to find it.

The cat — a 10-pound, black and white male named Tucker — was resting in a cat bed on Wiesneth’s lap just before the collision. When the motor home stuck the oncoming pickup truck that crossed over the highway’s center lines, Wiesneth said the windshield shattered outward.

“There’s every chance that the cat was ejected,” Wiesneth said. “He had a little round cat bed, and that was in my lap… and I had my arms around him, and I had my safety belt on of course. And as it happened, obviously everything goes forward.”

Wiesneth believes the cat escaped to the side of the highway during the accident and has since moved elsewhere.

Now, as her husband gathers what belongings are left from the crash to take them back to Florida, Wiesneth said she will remain behind in Alaska for as long as it takes to find her feline companion. She has gotten in touch with several local animal shelters and veterinarians, and is offering a $500 reward for Tucker’s return, she said.

“He is a family member,” Wiesneth said. “Five hundred dollars is nothing for me to get him back.”

Posters with the cat’s description can be seen along Kenai’s residential streets. Wiesneth has been back to the scene of the accident and has searched the surrounding area thoroughly with volunteer helpers, she said.

Linda Price-Albers, who lives on Birchwood Drive and could see the accident from her home, said her family will be on the watch for the cat. She said there are several places in the immediate area around the crash site where a cat could hide.

“I was just thinking of all the places that a kitty would hide, because they get frightened,” Price-Albers said. “It might be a little while before it might even come out. If it comes this way, we would surely keep an eye out for it.”

Wiesneth and her husband are convinced the cat is still alive, in part because she said emergency responders found no evidence of the cat, alive or otherwise, when they searched through wreckage from the collision.

“We searched every possible place in the (motor) coach, and of course through the wreckage,” Wiesneth said. “The fire department did an excellent job. As soon as they got us out of the vehicle safely, two fire officers went back into the coach and started looking in every possible place. They had a very long time to search through all the debris, and there was no cat, and there was no evidence of any injury.”

Wiesneth said Tucker is a house cat who is not familiar with the area. The cat is shy and is not likely to come to strangers, she said.

To complicate matters more, Wiesneth believes there may be a feral cat group with markings similar to her cat’s in the same general vicinity of where he went missing.

After the accident, Wiesneth received a call that a resident had found a cat with black and white markings, as can be seen on the posters. Upon visiting the resident, however, Wiesneth found a feral kitten instead.

An advocate for animal rescue herself, Wiesneth participates in efforts to decrease the feral cat population near her home in Miramar Beach, Fla. She practices a form of control that consists of capturing feral cats in humane traps, then spaying or neutering them before releasing them back into the wild.

Without receiving that medical attention, Wiesneth said feral cats will continue to multiply and create colonies.

“Alaska has very cold winters, so you’re going to have a huge loss rate by that, and you’ve also got some huge birds of prey. But, the growth rate of a feral cat population unchecked is exponential,” Wiesneth said. “I’m usually the person that’s on the other side (of this.)”

Indeed, one female cat can produce around 200 kittens in a single lifetime, said Barb Wright, vice president of Alaska Cat Adoption Team. The nonprofit organization responds to calls about feral or abandoned cats and places them in foster homes in the Anchorage area until they can be adopted.

Wright said the feral cat population is a problem throughout Alaska. The most common call ACAT receives is in regard to a pregnant female cat or a litter.

“Usually (it’s) either a pregnant mom or a nursing mom because the people haven’t bothered to spay,” Wright said. “It’s incredible. Most people just say, ‘Oh, hey, yeah there’s some cats over here’… and they just kind of ignore it, not realizing that within that colony there are females… (who) continue to build up that colony.”

Municipality of Anchorage law is worded in such a way that makes releasing a captured feral cat back into the wild illegal. Another animal rescue group began advocating for the wording to be amended in 2014.

Kenai’s municipal code allows for the use of humane animal traps, but does not specify whether captured animals can be released other than to an owner or animal control.

Getting one’s cat spayed or neutered is not a difficult process, said Dr. Richard McCartan of the Kenai Veterinary Hospital.

Because cats can be more difficult to transport to the vet, McCartan said it can sometimes deter people from bringing them in to be spayed or neutered.

“It’s relatively simple other than transportation,” McCartan said. McCartan recommends all cat owners get their animals spayed or neutered.

Another safety precaution many animal adoption agencies now take is to have cats microchipped. Vets can insert a small microchip between a cat’s shoulder blades, each with its own unique identification number, according to the website for HomeAgain, an organization dedicated to lost pet services.

Wiesneth’s cat is microchipped, she said. If he is found, his microchip can be scanned and his identification number entered into HomeAgain’s national database where it will show up as registered to Wiesneth.

“I am not leaving,” Wiesneth said. “I’m staying to figure out the where and how. Until I convince myself that he’s not there, I will be here.”

Anyone with information regarding Wiesneth’s cat can call 850-502-6707.

 

 

Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsulaclarion.com

 

More in News

Vice President Kelly Cooper speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough considers seasonal sales tax rate

Borough sales tax would be modified from a flat 3% to a seasonal model of 4% in summer months and 2% in winter months.

The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
King salmon fishing on Kasilof to close Thursday

If any king salmon is caught while fishing for other species, they may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.

Un’a, a female sea otter pup who was admitted to the Alaska SeaLife Center in June 2025, plays with an enrichment toy at the center in Seward, Alaska. Photo courtesy of the Alaska SeaLife Center
SeaLife Center admits 2 seal pups, 1 orphaned otter

The three pups join the Alaska SeaLife Center’s ‘growing’ patient list.

James Wardlow demonstrates flilleting a salmon with an ulu during a smoked salmon demonstration, part of Fish Week 2023, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Refuge to celebrate all things fish during weeklong event

Fish Week will take place July 16-19.

President Zen Kelly speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School board finalizes budget with deep cuts to programming, classrooms

Multiple members of the board said they were frustrated by the state’s failure to fund education.

Former KPBSD Finance Director Liz Hayes speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District budget development meeting at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School district finance department earns national awards

The two awards are based on comprehensive reviews of the district’s budget and financial reporting.

Children leap forward to grab candy during a Fourth of July parade on South Willow Street in Kenai, Alaska, on July 4, 2025. (Photo courtesy Sarah Every)
Celebrating the 4th in the streets

Kenai comes out for annual Independence Day parade.

Fire crews respond to the Bruce Fire, July 4, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Alaska Division of Forestry)
Firefighting crews respond to wildfire outside Soldotna

The 8-acre fire and two “spot fires” of less than one acre each are located near Mile 102 and 103 of the Sterling Highway.

Most Read