‘Big Sexy’ found after bolting from NY firefighter shoot

In this February 2019 photo provided by Michele Perosi-Froehlich, ‘Big Sexy’ the cat looks up from a container of food in her backyard in the Staten Island borough of New York. The cat went missing in January after it became frightened during a photo shoot at a New York City firehouse. Perosi-Froehlich recognized him as someone’s pet and posted his photo on Facebook where his owner recognized him. AP

NEW YORK, United States — “Big Sexy” the cat went on a five-week romp around New York City, bolting from a photo shoot for a bare-chested firefighter charity calendar.

The big black feline was finally found Friday on Staten Island after disappearing from a lower Manhattan firehouse.

The lost pet showed up in the backyard of a woman whose firefighter husband was a 9/11 first responder who died of cancer last year.

The firefighters called the cat Big Sexy, but its real name is “Buddy.” Staten Island resident Michele Froehlich-Perosi snapped a photo and posted it on Facebook. And the owner, Leslie Silbert, recognized her cat.

The code on the cat’s embedded chip confirmed this was, indeed, Big Sexy, aka Buddy. /cbb