US security authorities were left surprised when a live cat showed up on the X-ray machine during security screening at Norfolk International Airport in Virginia.
In the US, travelers can take cats or small dogs in pet carry cases in the cabin of the plane, but in this case, the cat had been wrongly sent through the X-ray machine instead of being taken out of the bag first.
TSA staff did a double take when the feline showed up on security screening, and the TSA released the X-ray of the cat on its official Twitter feed.
TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein wrote in the caption alongside the snap: “Just when you thought it was safe to bring your pet cat on a trip… A traveller left their pet cat in its travel carrying case at a TSA checkpoint this morning at Norfolk Airport.”
Ms. Farbstein had to warn travelers not to send their pets through the X-ray machine, while adding a cheeky pun: “Attention pet owners: Please do not send your pet through the X-ray unit. Cat-astrophic mistake!”.
Ms. Farbstein confirmed both the traveler and the cat were required to go through the screening in the proper way after the TSA agents saw the X-ray image, which means removing the cat from the travel bag.
She also tweeted a video posted to Instagram by the TSA about the proper way to travel with a pet through the TSA checkpoint, where owners take the pet out of the carry case before the bag is X-rayed.
She said travelers with cats can request screening to occur in a private room, just in case the owner has a runner on their hands.
The Instagram video shows a man removing his dog from a pet carrier and walking through the TSA checkpoint.
Ms. Farbstein told CNN that the individual either did not know to remove the pet from the carry-on travel case before going through the checkpoint or forgot to do so.
It’s not the first time a passenger has made this mistake. In December last year, TSA found a dog in a passenger’s carry-on. And the month before, an orange tabby cat was found in a checked bag at JFK Airport in New York.