You’ve probably heard me say more then once that our members are the most amazing online community on the net. The Boston Globe published an article on one of the reasons that makes me so confident of my assessment.

A year ago we created the Catster Railroad and Dogster Railroad forum topics as a response to the fact that that members were spontaneously coming together to transport pets in desperate need hundreds if not tens of hundreds of miles to a family wishing to take them in. Members will drive 6,8,10 hours and hand off the pets-in-need to the next drive that will do a similar leg and so on until the animal reaches it furever home. Completely strangers coming together to save an animal they’ve never met. It’s amazing.

The Boston Globe article covers the the inspirational details of what the community came to call “Operation Miracle Manx.”

Facing a death sentence in West Virginia, Jillian and Jasper [the Manx cats] traveled 1,245 miles by car, truck, and van over 21 hours, finally crossing the border and arriving safely in New Brunswick, Canada.
…
For their getaway, the cats received help from 14 pet lovers from seven states, each of whom drove the cats one leg of the trip and passed them on to the next driver. The pet enthusiasts coordinated the journey through the website Catster Railroad. Like the website Dogster Railroad, the Catster Railroad facilitates the transportation of homeless animals from over-stuffed shelters to open-armed adopters, no matter how far-flung

This is what happens when you can unite hundreds of thousands of people with like-minded passions. Ersatz strangers can band together within hours to do something that could have never been achieved individually or without the internet. And this particular phenomena happens on almost a weekly basis. Thanks to writer Robbie Brown for doing the research, sniffing out this story and bringing it well deserved light.

Here’s a screen grab of the cover photo and title