JEREMY WILKINSON

Last updated16:44, February 28 2017

ANDY JACKSON/Stuff.co.nz

Veterinarian Gemma Kinross says Maui the kitten had a "full belly" but was "very dirty" after being found on an off shore oil rig.

A kitten that stowed away on a container ship toan offshore oil and gasrig had to be specially flown off by helicopter.

Named Maui- after the gasfield off the coast of Taranaki she was found on- the three-month old kitten won over workers at the site, and has even been adopted by one.

Maui was flown first-class by helicopter off the field once she was discovered, but not before she was spoilt with sardines and milk by the Maui team.

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Shona Salisbury from St Aubyn Veterinary Clinic spends some time with stow away kitten, Maui.

Shell New Zealand chairman Rob Jager said it was likely she'd climbed into a shipping container while it was being loaded, and wasn't discovered until she was at the platform roughly 50kilometres off thecoast.

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"It's unusual to have a small animal or bird found offshore but it has happened before," he said.

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Maui came in a bit dirty and shy but is pretty much back up to full health.

"Now one of the guys from the Maui team is taking her home. He looked after her when she was offshore and has convinced his wife they should keep her.

"Unless someone claims her."

Animals aren't allowed on the platform and fortunately Maui didn't cause any damage duringher short stay.

STOS

Rebekah Smith, platform medic, at Maui B with Maui the kitten.

Workers managed to lure her into a cage borrowed from a local vet with a rasher of bacon, then loaded her onto a specially-requested helicopter.

She's now staying at St Aubyn Vet Clinic in New Plymouth until her new family takes her home.

Vet Gemma Kinross said she got a call from one of her clients asking to borrow a cage to take to the Maui B platform.

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Maui the kitten's journey from New Plymouth to the Maui B gasfield roughly 49 kilometres off the coast.

"It was all a bit confusing, I just thought they meant the port," she said.

"But then they said it needed to be pretty fast because there was a helicopter waiting."

Aside from coming in a bit shy, dirty and slightly traumatised from her helicopter ride, Maui was healthy even after a few nights at the platform.

"We have no idea what her start in life was like, we checked for a microchip straight away," Kinross said.

"It seems like everyone loved her, someone rang today saying they would have her as soon as she could leave."

Kinross suspected Maui was seeking food when she got into the container andit looked like she had stowed away to the right place, coming back with a full belly from the crew's attentions.

Maui isn't the first cat to stowaway on and oil and gas ship. In 2001 a cat called Colin's stowed away on the methanol tanker Tomiwaka from New Plymouth to South Korea.

Colin'sbelonged to one of the tanker terminal workers at Port Taranaki, but after falling asleep on board the Tomiwaka she set sail for international waters.

On her arrival back home by air New Plymouth's mayor Peter Tennent named her an honourary ambassador of the district. Sadly she passed away in 2007.

-Stuff

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Kitten stowaway gets first-class treatment on offshore Taranaki gasfield rig - Stuff.co.nz