How house cat miraculously survived weeks lost on Governors Island: ‘Really exciting’

This kitty has quite a tale.

Tsar the house cat disappeared from his owners during an annual family photoshoot on Governors Island in October – and miraculously managed to survive in the wild for weeks in winter temperatures.

“It’s pretty astounding,” Governors Island overnight caretaker, Tristan Mariner, told The Post. “He clearly had some good instinct. He was in an area that had a heated bathroom cart, which we’re assuming he lived under – and that’s where we found him.”

Mariner added that the 15-pound cat appeared well-fed and healthy when he was rescued Dec. 8 and probably hunted mice and sifted through the island’s various compost bins to stay alive. 

“He must’ve been eating good somehow,” Mariner remarked, “but he was certainly relieved to have  a handful of sardines when I saw him.”

Tsar’s saga began Oct. 27 when he and his owners attended the annual Pumpkin Point photo op festivities on the island, which is just a few hundred yards off Manhattan and Brooklyn and has no full-time residents.

The finicky feline disappeared under bales of hay, and despite people searching the area for him for hours, the critter was nowhere to be found, Mariner told The Post.

“We took our annual family photo with the pumpkins and Tsar (who’s been to the Island multiple times and enjoys roaming) decided to sit under the wagon of hay,” Tsar’s family wrote in an online lost-and-found pet forum post. “We called out to him a few hours later and he didn’t come, we waited until the last ferry (6 p.m.).”

One week after Tsar’s escape, Mariner spotted the pet on the southern half of the island. But attempts to lure the cat with tuna and draw him out were unsuccessful, he said.

Other staff spotted the animal as well over the next few weeks, but none were able to secure him.

A last-ditch attempt to use “humane” SPCA cat traps eventually proved fruitful, Mariner told The Post – with Tsar appearing in a trap Dec. 8, a whopping 42 days since he left his owner’s side at Pumpkin Point.

“I wanted to get this cat out of here,” Mariner acknowledged. “Of course, a lot of different people have different stakes. I’m a gardener, I really like birds, and cats aren’t good for birds. Also, there’s a poor cat out here in the cold, and of course I want to get him home.” 

Mariner, who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said the timing of Tsar’s escape was crucial to fnding him: In the island’s slower winter months, he was able to dedicate more time to the rescue mission.

“It was the security team seeing him on the security cameras, combined with the horticulture team and gardeners seeing him in their area, it sort of narrowed down the score of where I was looking and eventually [where I] put the traps [down],” Mariner said. 

The groundskeeper said Tsar was found just a 4-minute walk from the site of the Pumpkin Point photo-op, describing the cat’s rescue as a “huge relief.” 

“It was really exciting,” Mariner said. “It worked out really well. … I immediately called my bosses, called the family to tell them. It was a big relief for everybody, they were really happy.”

Mariner received a call from Tsar’s owners’ young son later that night, he said. 

“He was like, ‘Thank you so much.’ It’s nice for them to be together, having him home for the holidays and stuff like that,’ ” Mariner said.