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Bolivia’s state airline has become the target of ridicule after hiring
an “interspecies communicator” to track down a passenger’s missing pet
cat.
The disappearance of Tito the cat has been a matter of state business in
Bolivia for about a month, ever since the feline was lost by staff of
Bolivia’s state-owned airline. Tito’s owner, a woman working in Ireland,
was taking the feline from Tarija to Santa Cruz to have it certified as
a therapy animal, but was told that the cat had to go into the cargo
hold. When the plane landed, she was shocked to see Tito’s cage empty.
Airline staff admitted to losing Tito prior to takeoff and the cat’s
disappearance became the number one news story in Bolivia. Recently, the
Ministry of Justice even hired a self-proclaimed interspecies
communicator in hopes of finding the cat.
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Boliviana de Aviacion (BoA), Bolivia’s state airline, was founded in
2007 and has since taken over most internal flight routes in the Andean
country. It has also racked up a record number of complaints regarding
delays, canceled flights, and lost baggage, so the loss of Tito was the
hair that broke the camel’s back, in a way. Still, the way in which the
Government handled the situation has been described as laughable.
First, there was the press conference held by Bolivia’s Minister of
Consumer Affairs, in which the official explained how “Tito the kitten”
liked tuna, so cans of tuna and water had been distributed in areas
around the airport where the feline was lost, to make sure he didn’t go
hungry. He also added that firefighters and the managers of all airline
transport organizations had been asked to join forces to find the cat.
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Despite the efforts of the Bolivian Government and other
state-controlled organizations to locate poor Tito, the cat was nowhere
to be found, so in a desperate effort, the Ministry of Justice announced
that it had hired an interspecies communicator who claimed to be able to
establish an “energy connection” with Tito and learn details about his
whereabouts and wellbeing.
“With his techniques, he can communicate with Tito to find out where he
is, if he is scared or hidden, or if something more serious has
happened,” Bolivian Vice Minister Jorge Silva told reporters. “So far he
has told me that he is still alive, that he is hiding, obviously scared,
but that his energies are going down because of lack of food and water.”
The interspecies communicator has apparently been keeping in touch with
the cat’s owner, who has lost their job in Ireland and has remained in
the town of Tarija to continue looking for Tito. They have not lost hope
of finding the feline, but the chances of that go down with each passing
day.
The Government’s hiring of this special communicator – which most people
consider a fraud – has attracted a lot of criticism from the general
public, with some simply mocking officials and others accusing them of
wasting valuable resources.
“If the animal psychic actually finds Tito the cat, I’ll eat my Tweets
about the genius behind the idea,” one person tweeted.
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