Attention, Passengers: Your baggage will be delayed due to…

11/1/08  Print This Post Print This Post    2 Comments      Written by Julie Schwietert
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a cheetah.

How’d you like to get up close and personal to that face?

It was all in a day’s work for a baggage handler at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport on Thursday.

When the handler opened the cargo hold of an incoming flight, she found herself face to face with a cheetah.

The flight, which originated in Portland, counted two cheetahs among its cargo.

One of them got loose mid-flight and was snooping around passengers’ bags when the plane landed.

Bet nobody told the handler about THAT occupational hazard.

If you’re wondering how the cheetahs made it past TSA, they were legitimate cargo: the cheetahs were in transit from one zoo on the West Coast to another zoo on the East Coast.


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About the Author

Matador ID: collazo

Julie Schwietert is the managing editor of Matador Network. She contributed a chapter to the recently published book, The Voluntary Traveler, and is currently working on five features for Fodor's Puerto Rico, 6th Edition.

2 Comments... join the discussion!

  • Jack - eyeflare trav replied on November 1, 2008

    It's a pretty animal, but I think I'd really prefer meeting it while there's a handler present.

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  • James Mann replied on November 2, 2008

    Well I will tell you that if I was that baggage handler I would have to be making a quick change of clothes. I am sure that's a story she will be telling for years to come.

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