Kitten found swimming 3 miles at sea

July 9, 2004 10:24 AM EDT

CLEARWATER, Fla., Jul 09, 2004 -- A boatload of friends gathering scallops on Florida's west coast said a 9-inch-long kitten was found desperately paddling along three miles from shore. Those in the boat picked him up Saturday and he has been adopted. But no one knows how he got there, The St. Petersburg Times reported Friday.

When the apricot-colored kitten was spotted, the boat, traveling at 35 mph swerved around and picked it up. The kitten spent the rest of the day near Maggie Rogers, director of finances at the Clearwater, Fla., Marine Aquarium. After the others completed the day of scalloping, he was taken home, checked by a veterinarian and adopted by Rogers' sister-in-law, who named it Nemo, after the movie, "Finding Nemo."

The question of how the kitten got there remains. Some suggest he might have fallen off another boat. Another idea was he was an unwanted pet thrown overboard to die and still another was that he was being used as shark bait. Fishing guides said they had never heard of anyone doing that. "My opinion is somebody that sick should be put on a hook himself," said Wade Osborne, of Afishiando Guide Services and a cat owner.