Sox the Survivor
TRACY HARRIS – Staff Writer
On Monday night, Jan. 17, Sunshine Taylor Corbinhad a surprising turn of events with her cat, Sox, when she parked her truck in the late night hours to sleep. This unique mishap, or one-of-a-kind freak incident, led to “national” exposure and it all happened at our local Walmart.
Now, cats are known for being adventurous, daredevils, and for having nine lives, but Sox really showed out! She rolled down the window of an 18-wheeler and jumped out. Before this, she was strictly an indoor and in-truck cat; she had never been outdoors at all.
CRY FOR HELP
Sunshine posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Jan. 18, “Please help I’m a truck driver and at about 3:40 am Monday morning my baby figured out how to let the window down…she was last seen running around back of [Walmart]” with details about her location.
Ultimately, she was unable to catch her and after more than 12 hours, she had to go because if there is one thing certain in the trucking industry it is this- the wheels must keep rolling. Sunshine was distraught when she had to leave town without her.
She was lost without her companion, out on the road alone, and frequently updated her new followers. “It has been a week tonight and I’m losing my mind as I wasn’t able to stay to search for her,” she wrote.
GRIEF
Sunshine has relied on Sox as a source of comfort and companionship since January 2019. After her mother-in-law passed away, she was left dealing with immense grief. One of her daughters decided to try and pull her mom out of that darkness with a kitten. It must have worked as the pair have been inseparable ever since.
The next update indicated Sunshine’s growing concern: “8 DAYS 209 HOURS 12,500 MINUTES AND 752,400 SECONDS SINCE I LAST SAW MY BABY I NEED HER HOME.”
She offered a $250 reward.
SOCIAL MEDIA
The public advised her to share in groups close to the area where Sox was lost- just in case locals found her. She also posted to a truckers group.
Social media is a free for all so she received a bit of everything – helpful tips, harsh criticism, and some support. People wanted to know why Sox was not microchipped. Others wanted to know how she could leave town without Sox. A few criticized her for not using a pet carrier while inside the truck.
Her post had at least 500 comments and her original post was shared over 3,700 times.
MR. BOB
About two weeks later, her work schedule permitted her to come back to look for Sox. It was the first chance she had to return to the area since the night Sox escaped.
While there, she ran into Bob Brown, an ARATT volunteer. Sunshine simply refers to him as “Mister Bob” over the phone during our follow-up interview. “He was out there in the rain. He even set up the traps in the daytime and would go out there and have to move those traps up under brush so that the rain wouldn’t get in them, hoping to catch her. He was the first one I met.”
When she returned for that 24-hour period to look for Sox, she arrived around three in the afternoon. “I was out there hollering and screaming her name. I was back there at the railroad tracks and he was hollering too. I was like, ‘Who’s this?’ We ended up running into each other and he asked me what I was doing back there. He said, ‘You can’t be back here. There’s transient people back here and they might do something to you.’ I told him I wasn’t scared. I’m just looking for my baby,” she said.
After she left, she updated everyone on Facebook again: “I was able to return and was unsuccessful at locating her before I had to leave again. Some of the wonderful people there have been setting traps daily but still no Sox.”
LOCALS
Sunshine had no choice but to rely on Lewisburg locals while she returned to life out on the road, hoping and praying they would find her beloved Sox.
I am happy to report – the locals understood the assignment!
Animal Rescue Assistance Team Tennessee (ARATT) volunteers had been out in full force, calling for Sox, leaving food, setting traps, and working hard. Volunteers had launched into action almost immediately!
January and February had significant cold weather, torrential downpours, and below-freezing temperatures for extended periods. For an indoor cat not used to weathering the elements, that could have been deadly.
2 WEEKS “This morning marks 2 weeks Sox has been missing I’m just lost driving daily in a fog, looking at my passenger seat and she’s not there. I’ve come to the realization that I may never see her again.”
3 WEEKS “Three weeks and counting Lord Jesus I just want my baby back…This is a nightmare that I want out of…I know she is out there lost trying to understand why I’m not where she left me.”
FOUND
Her prayers were answered not long after that heart-wrenching post. Dawn Adams Liggett, a volunteer, spotted Sox by the dumpster behind Walmart on Monday, Feb. 10. Sox was thin but in good shape considering all she had been through.
Dawn notified Shelley Lawrence immediately. The reunification process started with a phone call to Sunshine. When Shelley reached out, Sunshine was thrilled and admitted “there were lots of tears that day on the phone.”
Shelley said, “We had all but given up hope. I had been trapping for two weeks and caught four other cats. None were her.”
A social media post full of gratitude was made later that day by Sunshine: “Hallelujah thank you Jesus. Sox has been found…Thank you so much Shelley Lawrence and Mr. Bob for your efforts in locating my baby. Y’all said that you would find her and y’all did just that-4 weeks of looking and y’all did it-happy tears!”
REUNION
The reunification had to be arranged but in the meantime, Sox was spayed, microchipped, and given a rabies vaccine. ARATT volunteers cared for her from capture to reunification.
ARATT posted an update to their Facebook page about Sox on Feb. 22. “As you will recall, a truck driver’s kitty named Sox escaped her truck in Lewisburg in early January and was lost! After setting traps for several weeks and catching every black and white cat except Sox, we were finally successful in trapping her. The plan is to reunite her with her trucker mama sometime next week. Until then, she is safe and warm and fed.”
Sunshine arrived in Lewisburg on Feb. 28 to meet with ARATT volunteers Teri Cox, Shelley, and Mr. Bob following an extensive trip but anyone in the room that day could tell, Sox was eager to be with her mama again.
On Monday afternoon, March 31, Sunshine said that she has finally taken Sox home for good as of March 20. Home is all the way in Minot, ND— a long drive from Lewisburg, TN. After having Sox riding with her for three months, she has decided that she should be back in a permanent location versus the truck.
Sunshine has worked for three years as an OTR truck driver. She made the career change after raising her three daughters. They are now 26 years old, and two are a set of twins, age 21.
I guess the moral of the story is, Sox is not cut out for the trucking life.
