TSA workers find CAT in traveler's bag after it nestled into luggage

Cat’s out the bag! TSA worker at JFK finds a CAT in a suitcase after the animal crept inside when the traveler was packing to leave his friend’s house

• TSA officers at a JFK International Airport discovered a cat stowed away inside a traveler’s bag on Tuesday morning
• Officers discovered the cat in a piece of luggage as it was passing through security at the New York airport
• They noticed a tuft of orange fur sticking out of a gap in the bag’s zipper, and upon opening the suitcase discovered the feline
• The man who owned the bag said he did not know he had packed the cat, but noted that it belonged to someone in the home he’d just left
• Officers later called the owner and asked whether they wanted to press charges
• The owner said she hadn’t even noticed the cat was missing, but insisted it was an accident and the cat must have climbed into the bag
• The cat, named Smells, was reportedly completely unfazed by the ordeal

Surprised TSA officers at a JFK International Airport discovered a cat stowed away inside a traveler’s bag.

Officers discovered the feline in a piece of luggage as it was passing through security at the New York airport on Tuesday morning.

They noticed a tuft of orange fur sticking out of a gap in the bag’s zipper, and upon opening the suitcase discovered the ginger cat. 

A spokesperson for the TSA said workers were ‘shocked’ by the discovery, which wasn’t made until after the bag had passed through security’s X-Ray.

The man who owned the bag said he did not know he had packed the cat, but noted that it belonged to someone in the home he’d just left.

The owner of the cat later told the New York Post that the feline’s name was Smells, and that she likely crawled into the bag on her own accord before the passenger left for the airport.

Smells has since been returned to her owner.

The TSA shared a photo of the X-ray image they had taken of the bag, which showed the distinct shape of a car nestled among shoes and a number of toiletries and bottles

The TSA Shared a photo which showed a TSA agent warily opening the luggage and peering inside. Smells could be seen neatly curled up on one end of the bag

The TSA shared images of the startling find in a tweet on Tuesday.

 ‘We’re letting the cat out of the bag on a hiss-toric find,’ they wrote. ‘This CATch had our baggage screening officers @JFKairport saying, ‘Come on meow’!

One photo showed Smell’s fur sticking out of the bag, while another showed a TSA agent warily opening the luggage and peering inside. 

Smells could be seen neatly curled up on one end of the bag.

The TSA also shared a photo of the X-ray image they had taken of the bag, which showed the distinct shape of a car nestled among shoes and a number of toiletries and bottles.

‘On the bright side, the cat’s out of the bag and safely home,’ a TSA spokesperson said. 

Officers noticed a tuft of orange fur sticking out of a gap in the bag’s zipper, and upon opening the suitcase discovered the feline

The cat’s owner, a 37-year-old Brooklyn resident named Alix, said she didn’t even realize the cat was missing until she got a call from the TSA.   

‘An officer called and asked if I wanted to press charges’ she told The Post. ‘He wanted to know if there was any reason he was trying to steal my cat and go to Florida.’

Alix insisted the incident was merely an accident, and that if any were at fault it was Smells herself.

‘Our cats really like to check out bags and boxes and apparently one of them climbed into his suitcase. It was just an accident,’ Alix said.

Alix said as she rushed to JFK, she was worried Smells would be traumatized by the ordeal. Smells, however, was unmoved.   

‘I was worried he’d be freaked out but he wasn’t even meowing on the way back,’ Alex said. ‘I went to give him some extra treats and he acted like nothing had happened.’ 

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