11 Questions for the Amazing Yellowstone Cat

Perhaps you saw this story on Great Aunt Martha’s Facebook page, or when Doug from accounting sent it to a companywide Slack channel. No matter where you glimpsed it first, you probably already know about Rayne Beau, the amazing California house cat who escaped in Yellowstone National Park and then somehow returned to his home state.

For those who don’t have a Great Aunt Martha or a company Slack, let me catch you up to speed. Back in June, Californians Benny and Susanne Anguiano brought their two Siamese cats, Starr and Rayne Beau (you know, like “rainbow.”) to Yellowstone. The couple parked their truck and camper at the Fishing Bridge RV Park on the northern shore of Yellowstone Lake and prepared to unload their stuff. According to The Los Angeles Times, Susanne was untangling the cat’s leashes when Rayne Beau jumped out of the vehicle, bolted into the forest, and vanished.

The Anguianos searched the nearby woods for five days with zero sign of the missing cat. Eventually, they made the heartbreaking decision to leave and drive back to Salinas, which is located between Santa Cruz and Monterey. “Leaving him was unthinkable,” Mrs. Anguiano told The New York Times. We all know why. Yellowstone is crawling with apex predators, and everyone at the campsite likely assumed that Rayne Beau became a tasty snack for a grizzly or a badger.

But then something amazing happened. In August, the Anguianos received a call from an official with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Rayne Beau had been found roaming the streets of Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento, a few hours north of their home. Yep, Rayne Beau somehow crossed 800 miles and four states to kinda, sorta, make his way back home.

Watch: After California residents Benny and Susanne Anguiano’s cat, Rayne Beau, ran off into the woods at Yellowstone National Parks during a camping trip, they held out hope he’d be found nearby. He was, but nearly 900 miles away from where he disappeared. pic.twitter.com/qD4IGmSoiS

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 24, 2024

Queue the media circus. By my estimation, Rayne Beau is quickly approaching breakdancer Raygun and pop star Chappell Roan in sheer tonnage of 2024 Internet writing.

And I completely understand why. The saga combines three elements that continually captivate the American attention span: pets, the 1993 Disney classic Homeward Bound, and people acting, well, a bit odd in our oldest national park. To be clear: yes, you can bring your house cat to Yellowstone, so long as you adhere to some basic rules. Should you? Well, that’s open for debate.

Since Rayne Beau has already been covered to death by mainstream media, I knew I needed a new angle, or some fresh reporting to help shed light on the saga. So, I texted the cat. After a preliminary messages, he agreed to a short telephone interview for Outside readers*.

Hi Rayne Beau. First question: what’s up with that name?

It’s called a homophone, Fred. Look it up.

Wow, you’re smart! Hey, if you’re so intelligent, why’d you run into the forest in Yellowstone?

I’ll let you in on a little secret, bub. We house cats may seem tame and docile, but, my friend, we are still wild animals who are governed by basic instincts, like fight and especially flight. And when that little voice inside my head tells me to run for my life, I don’t ask questions.

Why did you flee your owner’s truck?

After 900 miles of listening to Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, you’d also heed the call of nature.

Should cat owners take their cats camping?

Absolutely. Just know that your camping trip will actually be a round-the-clock cat-sitting trip that happens to include a tent and sleeping bag.

What did you eat out there in the backcountry?

You may not know this, but Yellowstone is home to a wide variety of delicious rodents and lagomorphs. I’m particular to vole cassoulet.

How did you avoid the carnivores?

It wasn’t easy. Think of Yellowstone’s backcountry as nature’s answer to the U.S. House of Representatives, only with slightly more biting and scratching. You need to form political alliances in order to survive, and so I sought out the biggest and meanest ally out there: a grizzly bear named Big Carl. He was in pig-out mode, and vowed to protect me from the coyotes and cougars if I could help him chow down. What could I offer Big Carl, you ask? Well, I know how to slither my way in and out of any Airbnb, and I helped him get into a pantry that was packed with 250 pounds of Chef Boyardee Beefaroni. Let me tell you, Big Carl was a stinky cave-mate after that score.

Did you miss your family?

Absolutely. Pine martens and badgers are OK company, but none of them know how to operate a can opener or scratch behind your ears.

How did you get back to California?

Lucky for me, our friends at Cowboy State Daily report on almost every instance of a tourist behaving badly, so I knew that sooner or later a visitor from California would attempt to cannonball into a thermal pool or wrestle an elk and get sent home. All I needed to do was stow away. My savior was a TikTok influencer from Sacramento who tried to pet a bison. She got the boot, and I got my free ride home.

How was the drive home?

We spent a night in Tonopah, Nevada in the world’s scariest motel, and my nightmares are now clown-themed.

How did you feel when you were reunited with your sibling, Starr?

I was so ecstatic that I groomed him until I coughed up a lemon-sized hairball.

Why does Yellowstone National Park turn humans—and apparently cats, too—into maniacs?

It’s the same reason for humans as it is for cats. We spend most of our lives cooped up indoors following the same daily rhythm: sleep, groom, eat, work, look after the kittens. We dull those wild instincts that tell us to hunt and explore, and over time, our primordial urges build up pressure inside us, like Old Faithful. And then, when we have our first taste of glorious outdoor freedom, BLAM!, our pent-up urges take over. We hug a bison, wade into a geyser, or simply jump out of a truck and skedaddle for the nearest thicket. When you tamp down your wild side for too long, strange things happen when you finally let it loose.

*This is completely fictitious. I did not actually interview a cat.