Cat goes missing during Toronto layover in Air Canada's cargo area
An Air Canada spokesperson says the airline continues its search for the cat, including using "outside specialists to assist"
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Air Canada is on the hunt for a Winnipeg-bound cat which went missing from a cargo area in Toronto during a connecting flight.
Riley McCann told CBC that after living in Montreal for five years, he boarded an Air Canada flight on Jan. 16 to move to his hometown of Winnipeg.
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He was able to keep one cat, Vida, in the cabin with him and paid $105 to check the other feline — three-year-old tabby, Dewy — into Air Canada’s cargo area.
Dewy was MIA during the layover, he said.
“The employee [who] had been put in charge to walk his crate off the plane had set down the carrier, turned around for a moment, and when he looked back my cat was gone,” McCann told the CBC last week.
McCann told the outlet he wasn’t allowed to look for the animal in the warehouse because of security issues, but Air Canada later offered to fly him back to Toronto to help look for Dewy.
“I’m currently on day seven of a 14-day isolation from having to travel,” he said to CBC. “I was shocked. We’re in a global pandemic and suddenly it’s OK for me to hop back on a flight to Toronto? It seems like a blatant disregard for the health of myself and their employees.”
“I begged and begged them to let me go in that room, to call out for him and try to find him myself, but was told [at that time] it was impossible, and now I find out it was very much possible,” he added.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said Monday it’s aware of Dewy’s story and “appreciates the public’s concern and we certainly share it.
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“Airlines and their baggage handlers are responsible for all checked bags and cargo on their flights, which includes pets in transport,” said GTAA spokesperson Robin Smith.
“We are supporting the airline in their efforts to find Dewy and reunite him with his owner as quickly as possible.”
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said the airline has been in “frequent communication” with the customer and continues its search for the cat, including using “outside specialists to assist.”
Air Canada safely transports thousands of pets each year and occurrences such as this are extremely rare, he added.
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