"Where's Francine?" Search for famous Lowe's cat expands to N.C.
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Working-class hero Francine has received the milk carton treatment. Image: Elise from @WheresFrancine
The search for Francine has become a multi-state effort.
Why it matters: Richmond hasn't come together like this since VCU made it to the Final Four in 2011.
State of play: Staff and supporters say the famous Broad Street Lowe's cat went missing earlier this month after hopping onto a distribution truck headed about an hour away to Garysburg, North Carolina.
- Her disappearance has led to the formation of "Task Force Francine," a group that includes SPCA volunteers who drove to Garysburg to find her on Monday, per a new Instagram account dedicated to the search.
- The local animal control office in North Carolina is now leading the search with help from the task force, per the "Where's Francine" Instagram account.
- And nonprofit SOS Cats RVA is offering a $2,000 reward for bringing Francine home safely.
Zoom in: As of Monday, a "Where's Francine" spreadsheet set up by a community member showed people saying they've contacted over 130 organizations about it.
- The list includes the Garysburg mayor, the people running for Garysburg mayor, North Carolina's governor, pet recovery services and pet psychics.
- Axios personally reached out to multiple pet communicators, psychics and Etsy witches who do pet locator spells but hadn't heard back about Francine's whereabouts, as of Monday afternoon.
A Lowe's spokesperson told Axios that "we are doing all we can to locate her."
Flashback: Francine has been a Richmond fixture since 2017, when she walked into the Lowe's garden section and never left.
- The North Carolina-based Lowe's spotlighted the local legend last year, noting how she's so popular that the Richmond Monopoly game has a card that says "Visit Francine the Lowe's cat."
- Francine even got eight write-in votes in the mayoral election last year, per the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and had her own "Francine for Mayor" posters pop up across the city.
What they're saying: The frenzy has prompted nearly 700 comments across Reddit posts, where one person wrote, "This is the biggest emergency in Richmond since the water system failure last winter."