Airport safety inspectors missed kitten in luggage

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Airport safety inspectors missed kitten in luggage

FINGER-POINTING:Pet owner Jin You-hao said he did know how his kitten got into his luggage and blamed Taoyuan airport safety inspectors for failing to spot it

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

A screen grab from Jin You-hao’s Facebook page shows his luggage, his kitten in a cage and a document from customs at Incheon International Airport after the kitten was found in his luggage when their plane landed in South Korea on Saturday. Photo: Yao Chieh-hisu, Taipei Times

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s safety inspection procedures were under scrutiny again after a Taiwanese tourist was able to carry a kitten in his check-in luggage and travel to South Korea.

The incident came to light less than a week after it was reported that an inspector at the nation’s largest international airport failed to spot two cans of diesel placed in the check-in luggage of a Japanese passenger last month because he had mistaken the diesel for honey. The luggage carrying the combustible item was not found until the plane landed in Manila.

According to the Aviation Police Bureau, a Taiwanese passenger named Jin You-hao (金祐豪) boarded the flight to Seoul on Saturday last week, and the kitten was not found until the aircraft landed at Incheon International Airport.

The bureau said that it reviewed the images stored in the X-ray machine that scanned the check-in luggage and identified an unknown object in it. However, the inspector failed to identify that it was a kitten hiding in the luggage.

Based on government regulations, passengers traveling with animals must obtain a permit from the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine first. Passengers are prohibited from carrying their pets without the document.

The aviation bureau said that it was rare to find a live animal hiding in luggage and said it would investigate further. It added that the passenger would be punished if he failed to follow regulations or had abused the animal.

The kitten will not be permitted to re-enter Taiwan if the owner fails to declare it, the bureau said.

Jin said the kitten was his, but that he did not know when or how it got into his luggage.

He said he was fined NT$21,000 in South Korea for violating the regulations for check-in luggage.

The kitten is being kept at a quarantine facility in South Korea.

Jin blamed the inspector in Taoyuan for letting the animal go unchecked, adding that he believed that the inspection system in Taiwan was “very unreliable.”

Although many netizens criticized the inspectors at the airport for making the error, some found it hard to believe that Jin was unaware that his pet was in his luggage.

“It was problematic that the inspector in Taiwan did not find the kitten in the luggage, but wasn’t the owner supposed to check on his pet before he left the house?” netizen Vicky Chang asked.

Another netizen, Yu Ben-ran (余本然), said that the pet owner was too careless, and the kitten was lucky that it was not smothered or froze to death.

Others defended Jin.

“Those who have never raised cats can never imagine how quiet they can be when they are hiding,” netizen Ting Yu (亭妤) said. “What pet owner would risk the life of their pet by hiding it in a closed environment? The problem is with the inspection system. People depend on airport inspectors to identify dangerous items in the luggage.”

The aviation bureau said it was not at fault for failing to spot the cat or mistaking it for something else as many Taiwanese passengers bring dried duck (鴨賞) or other Taiwanese snacks when they travel overseas.

Moreover, the cat did not endanger aviation safety, it said.