Conference misery::feline

779.0. "High-flying kitty!" by GRANMA::JBOBB (Janet Bobb dtn:339-5755) Thu Jul 14 1994 16:29

    Did anyone see the news reports about the cat, Tabitha, that was being
    transported from NY to California (cargo area) and somehow got out and
    couldn't be found?
    
    I first heard the news item a few days ago when the owner was going to
    take the airline, Tower Airlines, to court to get an injunction to keep
    the plane on the ground long enough for her to search for the cat. The
    cat had been "missing" for 12 days and couldn't be found by the airline
    people using "high-tech" equipment. Except the plane kept flying its
    normal route, which was between NY, California, NY and San Juan, etc.
    
    The owner by this time was frantic and wanted the plane out of service
    and in a quiet area so she could look for the cat in quiet. Said the
    cat is very timid.
    
    The airline agreed, before an injunction could be issed to ground the
    plane. This is when the news item first broke. I think that was Monday.
    
    Well, the next day, they had the followup news that the cat had been
    found. The plane grounded at one of the NY airports (I think Kennedy)
    and the owner spent most of the night in the cargo part of the plane
    searching/calling. Early morning she heard a meow and behind a panal,
    in a space that was above the cargo area but below the passenger
    section was Tabitha.  Having flown 30,000 miles and gone 12 days, the
    cat was taken to a vet, where she was pronounced fine, maybe a pound or
    2 lighter, but no worse for wear.
    
    The owner had a huge grin on her face when she had the cat in her arms
    and is getting a free first class seat for her and Tabitha from NY to
    California.
    
    Several things struck me - first, close to tears when they found the
    cat, so glad for a happy ending! Second - when she didn't have her cat
    yet, the woman talking about how this was one of her babies (her other
    cat, traveling at the same time made the first trip just fine), a
    member of the family and she was going to do everything she could to
    find it (gee... did that also strike a heartstring for me!) and no one
    from the press made any snide comments. Last - when the cat was found,
    I saw the update not only on local news (and I live in Maryland) but on
    the NBC evening news with Tom Brokaw. He made the comment about "the
    story that all NYC was talking about that day". 
    
    This is yet another story about people and their animals where the
    press has not treated the story as a "crazy people" story, but as
    something normal. I like this trend.

    And another dimension to the story is that Tabitha was found *exactly*
    where a psychic said she'd be.  (Tabitha's mom isn't into psychic
    phenomena but says she now believes in *this* psychic!)
    
    Leslie