The celebrity feline was killed in a hit-and-run accident as he was about to board bus No 3, the “Daily Express” reported.
Casper hopped on the bus in his home city of Plymouth around 10 am every morning for four years and sat on the back seat throughout its entire 11 mile route. He would curl up on the rear seat for its 11-mile route, arriving back at the stop an hour later.
During his bus rides Casper passed Plymouth’s historic dockyard, the city centre and a red light district. First Bus drivers were told to look out for him to ensure the 12-year- old cat got off at the right stop.
His devastated owner, care worker Susan Finden, 65, said the driver had failed to stop. “Many people knew Casper. He enjoyed the journeys and was a much-loved pet with so much character,” she was quoted as saying.
Susan has put up a sign at the bus stop to break the news to Casper’s fellow passengers. She admitted that despite his regular trips the cat “had no road sense whatsoever”. “He was quite quick for his age but I was trying to stop him riding the bus so much.”
Grandmother-of-three Susan, who found her pet at a rescue centre in 2002, added: “I called him Casper because he had a habit of vanishing like a ghost. But then some of the drivers told me he had been catching the bus. I couldn’t believe it at first, but it explained a lot. He loved people, and we have a bus stop right outside our house.”
A spokesman for First Bus said: “He’d just curl up at the back of the bus. He never caused any trouble.”
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