Checked Suitcase Held an Unusual Stowaway

The TSA let "the cat out of the bag on a hiss-toric find" on Tuesday, when it tweeted a trio of images showing an unusual find at JFK International Airport in New York City: a cat in a bag. NBC News reports the orange tabby ended up in a checked suitcase on Nov. 16 that was destined for Atlanta and then on to Melbourne Orlando International Airport in Florida. But before it made it from check-in at JFK to the plane, a TSA agent spotted the cat in an X-ray of the bag and removed it before the luggage was loaded into the pressurized cargo hold.

"The cat did not belong to the individual with the suitcase, it belonged to someone else in the household," says a TSA rep, who indicated the cat is thought to have seen the open suitcase and hopped in. The rep added on Twitter, "On the bright side, the cat’s out of the bag and safely back home." In CBS News' view, the find doesn't qualify as the weirdest of late at a US airport. It bestowed that honor on a handgun found shoved inside a raw chicken earlier this month. (This November TSA find is a contender as well.)