TSA and Herding Cats
 

"A case of "cat scratch fever" caused a small panic at Salt Lake International Airport.

It happened this morning when a man attempted to take his kitty through security. Security officials asked him to take the animal out of its carrying case. When he did, the cat took off."

Link: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1145844


I am sure there is a good reason why TSA needs to pull a cat out of a carrier. I can't wait to hear it.

So the cat doesn't have to go through the x-ray.

...and why didn't he have a harness and/or leash on the cat?

I know I've read a couple different places that any animal going into the pax compartment will have to be removed from the carrier and the carrier x-ray'ed like other carry-ons. The cat owner should have been better prepared to control his cat; I don't see this episode as the TSA's fault.

Do you have a cat? If not, you might not be aware how difficult it can be to get one into a carrier, much less get a harness/leash on one. Many times, one cannot simply "control" a cat. Also, cats are a little strange in what spooks them. They are not necessarily consistent in their behavior.

How many people would you expect to know that information especially in light of all the "illegal" items confiscated every day at checkpoints?

The cat obviously needs to placed in a sealed Ziploc bag.

Only if it is drooling. (We gave our cat Gravol to sedate her for her flight to Paris, and she drooled and foamed at the mouth for a couple of hours.)

If the cat was this way on the ground at the checkpoint, I wonder what would have happened 30,000 feet in the air? Point here is that pet owners who opt to bring their pets with them as carry-on have a responsibility to keep that pet under control at all times, especially when on board the aircraft.

The standard procedure is for the owner to remove the pet from the kennel, load the kennel into the x-ray, and then carry the pet through the WTMD. And while the x-ray radiation would not necessarily harm an animal, I think medical experts across the board caution that you not expose any living thing to x-ray radiation when it's not absolutely necessary (such as part of a medical examination). And this isn't some big secret. However, every once in a while, I encounter a passenger, who for some unknown reason, thought it would be okay to load a kennel with the pet still inside into the x-ray machine.

At one of my classes, I asked how many TSOs had ever x-rayed an animal. Several hands were raised, and the majority of them were the more seasoned screeners. The ones who didn't raise their hands, a great majority of them having less than a year of screening experience, looked at me in horror when I asked the question. I smiled and told them, "we don't want it to happen; we don't let it happen, but it happens. You haven't really earned your stripes as a screener until it happens to you."

The name of this thread leaves me no choice but to provide the link to the Cat Herding video.

http://www.easycall.net/fun/herding-cats.shtml

ROFL!! I remember the first time I saw this on TV. Thanks for the link.

But what about those claws? The bag will be threaded before you get it sealed.

Love that video.

I know my cat freaked out when I moved and flew her from PHX to SLC. I was told I had to take her out of the carrier and my words to TSA were "ARE YOU F**KING KIDDING ME? You ready to see a cat run away from me?" Sure enough, the cat was sedated enough that she just laid in my arms and we went thru security and right back in the carrier. I NOW know to put a leash on her if she is to travel with me again.

I mean she was a mess when I took her in for her shots and such at the vet, the vet couldn't even touch her and just did a 'visual' inspection, lets just say my arms/wrists looked like I tried to kill myself.

Apparently you do not own a cat. A cat can be "controlled" while in a carrier, but once the door is open, anything goes.

I still do not understand the need to put the carrier through the X-ray, with or without an occupant. Most carriers are fairly thin and can easily be inspected by hand - at least in the same amount of time it takes to remove and replace an animal. This seems to be a policy for the sake of uniformity.

This is indeed true. I have a cat, and I've never traveled with her. But even so, I am well aware of the regulations should the need arise. It's always been clear that the carrier (this is before 9/11/01, even, keep in mind) had to go through the x-ray and the cat had to come out. Thus, the cat should have a harness and leash unless you're darned sure that it's not going to be spooked, which is almost impossible to be sure of.

It may be true that the carrier could be inspected by hand. And yes, it sure isn't the easiest thing to get a cat into a harness who doesn't normally wear one. But because of unexpected circumstances in the airport, I would make sure mine had one if I was taking her there even if the rule about the carrier going through x-ray didn't exist. It's just common sense to have a way to control the cat when out of the carrier. What if the cat makes a mess that needs to be cleaned up, etc.?

I find various TSA procedures to be BS, but this time I don't think the blame belongs with the TSA. If you're taking a pet as carry-on baggage, there are numerous things to be aware of (limits on number of pets per flight, extra fee per airline, some airlines don't allow, etc.) and the security screening is just one more thing that is made very clear when making these arrangements.

And is that carrier inspected if your cat (or dog) flies in the belly of the aircraft? No it is not - so why even bother to take the animal out of the crate. If it's not going to inspected going into the cargo hold there should be no requirement to x-ray it when going into the cabin.

Especially if the cat decides that the moment is right for the 'afternoon crazies' and decides that a full speed maniacal run around the terminal with wild eyes is in order...:D