Pet Cat Spotted in Carry-On Going Through Airport X-Ray Machine
The TSA is asking travelers to remove pets from carriers before security.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is reminding travelers that traveling animal companions should not be going through the x-ray machines at airport security checkpoints. Yes, seriously.
This oddly specific announcement--which was made on a TSA Spokesperson's Twitter post--came after an unnamed passenger allowed their cat to travel through the x-ray machine at Norfolk Airport. The post even includes the exact picture of the cat on the machine's monitor!
This feline had quite the adventure before even arriving at the plane! It must've been a shock for the TSA agents to see this cat pop up on the screen, but we're sure no one was as shocked--or concerned--as the cat. Don't worry though--the feline is just fine!
The amount of radiation emitted from an x-ray machine is incredibly low, but TSA Spokesperson Lisa Farbstein (whose Tweet brought this fiasco to public attention) still told the Washington Post, "No living creature, human or animal, needs to be exposed to X-rays they don’t need.”
Instead, airport security's main concern is that owners stay with their pets at all times. According to WFLA News, animals will undergo a visual or physical inspection instead of being X-rayed. Their carriers, however, will still need to be scanned.
So what happened with this feline fiasco? In the end, the cat and its owner had to go back through security the correct way. Though the incident made quite a stir, no one was injured or punished in this situation. Still--please don't try this for yourself!
Farbstein worded it perfectly when she said, "if you think you're saving time, you're not." Please put your pet's safety first when you travel together!
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