Year: 2025

A cat has made three flights between New Zealand and Australia in just 24 hours after being forgotten on a plane. Mittens, an eight-year-old Maine Coon, was booked to travel from Christchurch to Melbourne on 12 January – but her cage was left in the Air New Zealand aircraft’s cargo hold. After waiting for three hours for Mittens at Melbourne airport, owner Margo Neas was told by ground staff the plane had already returned to New Zealand with her pet. During that flight the heating was turned on to keep the cat comfortable, Ms Neas said. The pet – who had lost weight but was otherwise unharmed – was later flown again to Melbourne to reunite with her owner. Speaking to NBC on Wednesday, Ms Neas said she and her son had been informed about the mishap by airport ground staff in Melbourne. “They said: ‘Look, we have located your cat – but it’s actually on the return flight to Christchurch…’ “And I said: ‘When did you discover that the cat wasn’t taken off the plane?’ And they said: ‘We’ve only just discovered now.’ And I said: ‘How can this happen?’” Ms Neas said she was told that the pilot had already been alerted to turn the heating on in the cargo hall where the temperature could be as low as 7C. The incident is still being investigated, but reports say a stowed wheelchair may have obscured a baggage handler’s view of Mittens’s cage. Air New Zealand has apologised for the distress caused, promising to reimburse all travel costs. The company does not accept direct animal bookings from the public for international flights, so passengers must book via approved pet carrier firms. Ms Neas said she had been relieved to be finally reunited with Mitten. “She basically just ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here and just did the biggest cuddles of all time,” she was quoted as saying by the AP news agency on Wednesday. “It was just such a relief.” Ms Neas, who had earlier decided to relocate to Australia, added: “It was not a great start to our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have the family, we weren’t complete.” The one-way flight time between Christchurch and Melbourne usually takes less than four hours. Source link

Ewan Gawne BBC News, Manchester GMP Alex Batty vanished in 2017 after being taken on holiday by family Police have called off a criminal investigation into the disappearance of British teenager Alex Batty, who returned to the UK in 2024 after going missing for six years. The boy from Oldham vanished in 2017 aged 11 after going on holiday with his mother and grandfather, before he was found in France in 2023. A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said a probe into child abduction had been dropped as his family did not support it and there was “no realistic chance of prosecution”. Det Supt Matt Walker said: “The right thing to do is bring closure to this chapter of Alex and his family’s lives, particularly as this is the outcome they wished for.” Alex was discovered in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south-western France close to the city of Toulouse on 13 December 2023, after he was last seen in the port of Malaga six years earlier. The teenager said he, his mother and grandfather, Melanie and David Batty, who were not his legal guardians, had lived a “nomadic lifestyle”, after staying in communes and caravans in the area. Alex returned to live with his grandmother in Oldham shortly after he was discovered. Alex went on holiday with his family in September 2017 and was last seen a month later ‘Safe and reintegrated’ But the probe has now been dropped by police, who found after consulting with lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service and National Crime Agency that there was no realistic chance of prosecution. Det Supt Walker said the force felt it important to “properly and thoroughly” investigate the disappearance and had “explored all possible lines of enquiry”. He said Alex’s safety had been “at the forefront” of the investigation. “Alex is now an adult, safe, and reintegrated with life back in Greater Manchester surrounded by those who love him, which ultimately is the priority.” Source link