Naughty Oyen Sneaks Into Luggage Unnoticed & Almost Gets Flown Thousands Of Miles Away
Smells' owner confirmed that the oyen is alive and, well, unbothered by the trouble it brought unto itself.
By Jasmine Chea — 24 Nov 2022, 12:29 PM — Updated almost 2 years ago
It must have been an interesting Tuesday, 22 November, for John F Kennedy (JFK) airport officers when they saw some orange fur sticking out of a luggage bag, where the zipper was partially undone
Wanting to find out what that was, Transport Security Administration (TSA) officers in the New York, US, airport decided to put the luggage carrier through an X-ray machine. Much to their surprise, the object revealed a live feline trapped inside the top compartment of the luggage.
According to New York Post, the tabby would have suffered a grim fate of being trapped in a pressurised aircraft luggage hold for hours on end, if authorities had not detected it.
Thankfully, the feline was saved in the nick of time, as officers took the baggage aside and freed the cat.
Officials said that the owner of the luggage carrier was travelling from New York to Atlanta for a connecting flight to Melbourne Orlando International Airport in Florida
According to TSA spokesperson Lisa Faberstein, the owner of the luggage claimed that the tabby cat did not belong to them, rather it belonged to someone else living in the household, where they were a guest at.
The traveller said that they did not notice the cat and assumed that it climbed into the luggage bag while they were packing, and hid amongst their belongings.
Faberstein confirmed that the oyen is safe and sound.
"The cat's out of the bag and safely back home," she told news reporters.
TSA officers contacted the owner of the tabby cat, who said that she did not even realise that her pet, named Smells, was missing until airport officials began to ring her up
Speaking to New York Post reporters, the owner said that authorities asked her if she wanted to press charges, suspecting that the 37-year-old traveller (nicknamed Alix for privacy), who was a guest of the owner, wanted to steal her cat.
But the owner of the tabby cat declined, reassuring officers that it was just an accident.
"An officer called and asked if I wanted to press charges... He wanted to know if there was any reason he (Alix) was trying to steal my cat and go to Florida. Our cats really like to check out bags and boxes, and apparently one of them climbed into his suitcase. It was just an accident," she confirmed.
Once Smells' owner got the call from TSA officers, Alix's fiancé got into a car to go pick up the stowaway feline and bring him back home. Interestingly, Smells seemed to be unbothered by the whole ordeal.
"I was worried he'd be freaked out, but he wasn't even meowing on the way back. I went to give him some extra treats and he acted like nothing had happened," the owner said.
