Kitten hitches hair-raising ride over Golden Gate

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A stowaway kitten is safe despite taking an 85-mile ride in a van’s engine compartment that included a trip across California’s Golden Gate Bridge.

A Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter spokesman said the 8-month-old female feline was probably just looking for a warm place to sleep.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported the van’s road-tripping driver left from Marin County and spent the night in a Mill Valley parking lot before heading out Wednesday morning for Santa Cruz.

He didn’t stop until he reached a gas station in the beachfront city, where he heard a distinct meowing. He opened the hood and found the kitten with a blue, studded collar and blue bell but no identification.

The shelter is trying to locate the owner.