November 24, 2022

When the JFK airport scanner revealed a cat inside a woman's luggage, the traveler said it wasn't his cat.

I'm reading "A real cat scan: furry friend in case found by airport scanner" (London Times).

"'An officer called and asked if I wanted to press charges,' the cat’s owner, named only as Alix, told the New York Post. Alix, 37, said the cat, named Smells, had been found in the luggage of her house guest and the official 'wanted to know if there was any reason he was trying to steal my cat and go to Florida.' She assured him that it must have been a mistake. 'Our cats really like to check out bags and boxes and apparently one of them climbed into his suitcase,' she said. 'It was just an accident.'"

ADDED: Here's the scanner photo. I can't believe the person who packed the luggage didn't know!

28 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

He’s a quiet cat… it could’ve been a catastrophe.

iowan2 said...

Our dog is too big to get packed in a suit case. But size is the only reason it doesn't happen.
When we bring out the suit cases, the dog goes into full sentry mode. Never letting the bags out of her sight. I can see a cat sliding under some clothes and getting the lid closed on it.

Big Mike said...

I can't believe the person who packed the luggage didn't know!

I can.

Randomizer said...

Even cats are fleeing New York for Florida.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Horrible. This makes me hate humans. Of course they are lying. Look at the zipper and the small air hole.

That is animal abuse - straight up.

Do these idiots know that most airlines allow the pets? A single cat can be placed under the seat - as long as it's in a airline approved carrier. I've used a sherpa bag to do it. I've transported felines on airplanes twice in my life.

Balfegor said...

That's an awful lot of bottles in there.

Wilbur said...

Randomizer said...
Even cats are fleeing New York for Florida.
------------------------------------------------------------

Bravo. Good one.

I read that the cat was safely returned home ... I wonder, at whose expense?

Bob Boyd said...

Just be grateful he didn't try to smuggle the animal in a body cavity. Zipping it into a suitcase is pretty unimaginative. Not sure this guy has what it takes to be a Florida man.

Lucien said...

So the cat was in a woman’s luggage, but the traveler was a “he”?

tim maguire said...

If he packed and closed the top but didn't zip it, then left the room for whatever reason, the cat could crawl in without leaving anything amiss on the outside so that when he came back, he zipped up and that was that.

Howard said...

Who let the cat out of the bag?

Leslie Graves said...

I have a couple of "non-noticers" in my life who definitely would not have noticed this. I wonder how many of your readers also know non-noticers.

Tom T. said...

So it was a man's luggage, not a woman's. The pronouns in the post title confused me.

EAB said...

Exactly right as Tim Maguire said. Having had lots of cats through the years, I know they are intrigued by suitcases. It would be very easy for a cat to slip into an unzipped suitcase and not be noticed. Male orange tabbies are notoriously chill.

mikee said...

The cat just got a huge dose of x-rays. Hope it lives.

JaimeRoberto said...

I'm telling ya baby, that's not mine. I don't even know what this is! This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby.

Lazarus said...

Her pronouns were "he, him, his"?

You usually only see slip-ups like that in articles that have been computer translated from languages that use pronouns differently.

Narr said...

Catnapping a catnapper?

I'm suspicious of the cat. What if it had ingested some bags and expected a big payday at the end of the trip?

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
YoungHegelian said...

Well, the cat's out of the bag now.

Freeman Hunt said...

A cat could definitely slip in there undetected. What's with all the bottles?

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Would have been DOA if unpressurized and unheated cargo.

n.n said...

Schrodinger's cat.

Tomcc said...

"I can't believe the person who packed the luggage didn't know!" Cats are pretty ubiquitous, why would you steal one?

Mason G said...

I participated on a "Loss of a Pet" message board years ago. "Cat in the dryer" wasn't exactly a rare subject there.

rcocean said...

I don't believe a cat would get into a piece of luggage and then when it was being hauled away wouldn't make noise. That said, the ability of cats to cram themselves into extremely small spaces is unbelievable. One of the benefits of having a flexible spine.

rwnutjob said...

I traveled for a living & over the years, different cats would take up residence in the packing bag. Don't think I could have closed on up in it though.

gadfly said...

If the bag was on its side when zipped, the cat could have been asleep - unmoving and unseen. As for a seeming airhole, since when are cloth suitcases airtight?

I will never forget closing the clothes dryer door and turning it only to hear loud cat noises and the dryer sounding thump-thumps. After several weeks and several thousand dollars paid to the Vet, Ginger the cat recovered.