A British couple have told of their anguish after three kittens they rescued from Crete were allegedly lost in transit when they decided to fly them to the UK for a new life.
Bethany Mulcahy-Stephenson, a vet, told the Guardian that she and her husband, Adam, 39, found the mother cat requiring surgery during a September 2023 trip.
They returned in May to find the cat – which they named Abba – had given birth to a litter of kittens, two of which had eye infections, and one was blind.
When a local rescuer said they could only take the cats in temporarily, Bethany and Adam decided to rehome the ailing animals.
‘It was a life or death decision,’ Bethany told the newspaper.
After treating the cats, the couple planned to fly them to Paris, driving down from their Barrowford, Lancashire home to pick them up in Calais.
But as they reached the Eurotunnel, they were horrified to receive a text from their rescuer contact in Greece saying ‘the airline has lost three of the kittens’.
‘We didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t even know where they were, if they [had] left Greece, if they were in France or if they had been left on the tarmac.’
The cats had arrived in France, but had not been unloaded. Bethany said they were ‘somehow forgotten in the hold, or not seen’, and remained on the flight as it turned around back to Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
FILE PHOTO: A British couple were horrified to learn their rescue cats had been ‘missed’ and taken back to Greece, after they tried to fly them to Paris to be be rehomed
Bethany feared the cats would be dead or never found again. It was another two days before they would learn of their fate, when the airline agreed to send the cats back via Athens in the cabin and with a handler.
Bethany told the outlet she counted the cats 10 times when they finally did arrive, shaken from the experience.
‘They were absolutely traumatised,’ she said, adding that they had to be taken to an emergency vet.
The couple say they still have not had a proper explanation or apology from Aegean Airlines.
The company said that the cats were ‘never lost at any time’.
A statement read: ‘Upon the arrival of the flight in Paris, they were not immediately disembarked due to operational reasons.
‘As soon as this was identified, a coordinated response was promptly activated among all involved stations and our customer service department, in order to safeguard their care and security until their reunion with their guardians.
‘The kittens continued their journey the same day under the direct care of the Aegean crew, which provided them with food and water during the flight, ensuring constant supervision.
‘The same evening, they were safely reunited with their guardians in Paris.’
Last year, a dog-sitter attracted the attention of James Middleton, the Princess of Wales’ brother, after an airline could not locate a missing pet placed in the hold.
FILE PHOTO. Aegean Airlines said the cats were ‘never lost at any time’, but ‘were not immediately disembarked due to operational reasons’
Ramón Alberto Piriz was travelling from the UK to Argentina with his friend’s dog, Sombra, on August 22.
Ramon was told by AirFrance flight attendants that the dog was too heavy to travel in the cabin and needed to be moved into the cargo.
When he arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for their stopover, Ramón was told that Sombra was missing.
A change.org petition read: ‘Tragically, upon arrival in Paris, Ramón Alberto Piriz (owner’s friend) was informed that Sombra was missing.’
Sharing the petition on his Instagram Stories, James – who has six dogs and runs pet food company James & Ella – wrote: ‘This is so sad.
‘As someone who travels regularly, this is my worst nightmare.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .