The Train to Düsseldorf Came and Left Without Pretty Little Cleo but Her Turbulent Journey Through This Terrible World Has Led Her to a Far Better Destination and a Second Chance at Life

Cleo Was Left Caged and All Alone on the Platform in Essen

"Und finden bei der Polizei sogar zwei Adoptiveltern für das Kätzchen."
-- Tierrettung Essen

Deutsche Bahn's Rhein-Weser Express (RE6) rolled into the Hauptbahnhof in Essen, a rather large town of nearly six-hundred-thousand residents in Nordrhein Westfalen, with renowned German efficiency and right on time at 7:47 p.m. on February 3rd. Two unidentified men boarded the Zug and it quickly roared off into the night bound for Düsseldorf, thirty-five kilometers to the southeast.

In doing so they left behind in a chair on the cold and forlorn Bahnsteig a pretty ginger and white kitten. She was in a cage so she was safe, at least for the time being, from having the life crushed out of her underneath the wheels of one of the incoming and departing locomotives.

There also apparently was some wet food and water in her cage but it is not believed that she had access to either of them. That assumption is based upon the fact that once the Bundespolizei (BPOL) were notified of her presence they had to make available to her the provisions found in her cage.

She Was Found on One of These Chairs

Staffers from the Essener Tierheim were notified and they promptly came and collected her. Upon arrival at their shelter she was examined and found to be in perfect health.

Following that she was given the name of Cleo and placed in quarantine. The BPOL, which throughout Deutschland is charged with, inter alia, guarding not only the railroads and airports but also the border, immediately launched an investigation into the men who had so cruelly abandoned such a pretty little kitten.

Since their images had been captured on surveillance tape, the federal police already had detailed descriptions of the pair who were said to have been between twenty-five and thirty years of age and to have been of either east European or südlandischer (either Italian or Spanish) descent. Both of them were sporting thin beards with sideburns and goatees.

Cleo in the Arms of Tierrettung Essen

The bulkier of the duo is said to have been wearing cloth pants, a white shirt, a short black leather jacket, white sneakers, and toting a black rucksack. The other man is said to have been wearing beige pants, dark Nike sneakers, a white T-shirt, and a black cloth jacket.

Despite having in their possession those detailed descriptions as well as, no doubt, stills taken from the surveillance footage in order to distribute to the Landespolizei (state and local authorities), the BPOL has yet, as far as it could be determined, to make an arrest nearly three months later. Also, since the men have not made any attempt in order to reclaim Cleo, it seems clear that they did not simply forget about her and accidentally leave her behind all alone on the deserted platform.

Rather, they had deliberately abandoned her. (See Bild of Berlin, February 8, 2024, "Polizisten Adoptieren ausgesetztes Katzen-Baby.") 

Even though she was forced to endure some anxious moments on the Bahnsteig and some frightening days

and nights locked up at Tierrettung Essen, things ultimately worked out for her far better than anyone ever could have predicted. "Und finden bei der Polizei sogar zwei Adoptiveltern für Kätzchen," Tierrettung Essen happily announced February 9th on Facebook. (See "Happy End for Cleo.")

Cleo with Her New Caretakers 

Her new caretakers are believed to be a male and female couple who work as officers for the BPOL out of the Essener Hauptbahnhof. The additionally likely were intimately involved in her rescue.

Neither their names nor their place of residence have been made public so it is not known where Cleo is currently residing. Nevertheless, since the branch of the BPOL that serves Nordrhein Westfalen is headquartered in Sankt Augustin, ninety-four kilometers south of Essen, they likely live somewhere in the general vicinity of either it or Essen itself.

The important thing, however, is that she in all likelihood will be safe in their care and, best of all, she now has been given a second chance at life. The only obvious concern is that law enforcement is a dangerous undertaking and officers put in long, stressful hours and that may not leave her new owners with all that much time for Cleo.

In a world that is chock-full of infinite surprises, not all of them could possibly be bad and sometimes miracles do occur. In Cleo's case, if she had been taken aboard the 7:47 p.m. train it is feared that things would not have turned out well for her.

The Train Not Taken Has Made All the Difference for Cleo

Her erstwhile guardians had clearly made up their minds to have gotten rid of her and if they had not done so in Essen they surely would have done so sooner or later in either Düsseldorf or somewhere else and who knows with what dire consequences? Therefore, by abandoning her on the platform at the Essener Hauptbahnhof they, unwittingly, set in motion a chain of totally unanticipated events that ultimately culminated in her salvation.

In this world it is quite often those decisions that are deferred and the trains that are not taken that make all the difference. No one has ever made that point more plaintively than did Robert Frost who in his famous 1915 poem, "The Road Not Taken," concluded:

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference." 

Although Cleo clearly never had any real choice in the matter, perhaps someday she will belatedly realize, too, that the train she never took has made all the difference in her life. If she does not already know that, it is incumbent upon her new caretakers to make that a living reality for her.

Photos: The Bundespolizei (Cleo in a cage, the deserted Bahnsteig, and Cleo with her new guardians) and Bild (Cleo by herself and with Tierrettung Essen).