Gyzmo The Cat Escapes From Carrier, Is Now Loose In JFK Airport

We hate to conclude the week with a discouraging pet story, but there’s bad news out of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City: airline workers lost a French family’s cat somewhere between Paris and New York.

Gyzmo’s owners sent him on the flight because they’re moving to the United States in a few weeks. A family friend brought him along on her own trip, and he traveled as cargo.

The news that another cat is missing in JFK activated the Friends of Jack network, a group organized in memory of a cat lost in that airport in 2011 who died of injuries and malnutrition after spending two months on his own. The group, organized by a friend of Jack’s owner, organizes searches when an animal goes missing from an airport, and works to educate consumers and travelers about safe travel with pets.

Gothamist reports that airport officials know about the missing cat, and the Friends of Jack network say that they are trying to secure permission to bring a scent dog in to track Gyzmo. The first 24 hours are crucial in searching for an escaped animal.

Before you criticize the family friend who transported Gyzmo for checking the animal, note that the airline she used, French discount carrier XL Airways, has stricter limits than most American carriers on which animals can travel in the cabin.

“You are not allowed to take the cat with you in the plane if he weighs more than 3 kg,” she explained on Facebook. “Which is [under] 7 lbs. Gyzmo is 16 lbs.”

We will update you when we learn that Gyzmo has been found. Let’s hope that happens very soon.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist