A Greek airline has found itself at the centre of a social media storm after it lost a blind rescue kitten during a transit stop in Athens, and five days later, there’s still no sign of what has happened to the missing feline.
Rodri the cat, was being rescued along with two other kittens by Munich-based Mary Gomes, who was travelling with the three cats from Chania on the Greek island of Crete to Germany with a short stop in Athens.
Mary received a certificate to say that the three cats had been loaded without incident in the cargo for the first flight to Athens but on arrival in the Greek capital, Mary discovered that the lid to Rodri’s box had been damaged and the cat had managed to escape.
Where exactly Rodri managed to escape, however, remains a mystery. Mary was travelling with the kittens on March 8 and there has been no sign of Rodri ever since.
“Everything was fine at the check-in in Chania,” Mary explained in a Facebook post. “The boxes were new and without any faults.”
“At Athens airport, after the first landing, I was called to check my 3 transport boxes. One of them was so damaged from the top that my kitten had run away. According to the Athens airport ground staff, the 3 transport boxes had arrived this way and one of them without an animal.”
Mary continued: “The member of staff who informed me even made fun of the situation and me, not realising that I understood some of what she was saying to the colleague. None of the staff involved supported me; there was no empathy”.
With a social media backlash against Aegean starting to build, the underfire airline has been forced to publicly address the issue, saying in a statement publicly that it is “deeply concerned” about Rodri’s disappearance and is “actively working with airport authorities and our team to do everything possible to locate Rodri”.
“From the moment we realized that Rodri was missing, we swiftly launched extensive efforts, coordinating with airport authorities, and are deploying our dedicated airport personnel in search of the kitten,” the statement continued.
“Despite our exhaustive attempts, we haven’t yet located Rodri, but we are fully committed to persisting in our search efforts”.
Aegean Airlines has denied reports circulating on social media that it offered Mary just €100 as compensation for the missing kitten. The claim was linked to a fake account that purported to be Aegean, a spokesperson for the airline explained.
