Live animals are not allowed in the passenger cabin of an aircraft. Actually. Because, as is so often the case, people use double standards in this case. Dogs and cats, at least if they are not too big and heavy, do not necessarily have to be stowed in the cargo hold. Instead, you can travel with your master and mistress much more comfortably in economy or even business class.
This may be because dogs and cats are often not viewed primarily as animals, but rather as substitutes for children or grandchildren and are therefore considered an integral part of the family. The airlines treat them accordingly: you don’t lock someone like that in the dark, cold luggage compartment.
Things are different with hamsters, guinea pigs, dwarf rabbits and budgies. Although their cuteness factor is only slightly lower than that of young dachshunds, the same regulations apply to them as to geckos and snakes: entry prohibited! When it comes to rodents and birds, there may still be a number of advocates, which is why airlines risk a conflict with their customers with their ban.
But when it comes to reptiles like the ones mentioned, which are certainly popular pets, opinions differ quite clearly: those who are negative about them are probably clearly in the majority. Especially when geckos and snakes are on board an aircraft in a hand luggage compartment above or below the seat in front of you.
When it comes to social acceptance, things are completely obvious when it comes to maggots. Especially if they don’t crawl around on your hand, but in your hair or neckline. The screaming on board a plane on the way from Amsterdam to Detroit must have been correspondingly shrill recently, when a small taxi or in this case: robbing squad attacked the passengers in order to, well: ruin the flight for them .
In fact, the pilot turned around shortly before Manchester and returned to Amsterdam. Whether he feared that the passengers would not be able to cope with the maggots for another six hours of flight or whether he feared personal consequences in the USA, where you are not even allowed to import an apple because the foreign seeds potentially endanger the local ecosystem – nothing is known about that.
What was definitely found out is where the maggots came from: from the hand luggage of one of the passengers. In his suitcase there was fish wrapped in newspaper that had obviously not been suitable for making sushi for some time. What is still unclear is: How did the fish and maggots make it through the security check? And what did the passenger plan to do with this culinary emergency?
Back at the airport in Amsterdam, we didn’t spend long with these questions. Instead, short shrift was made and the luggage and its contents were burned. Nothing is known about the angry outcry from an animal protection organization. As far as we know, no dogs or cats were harmed in the incident.
Stefan Fischer’s inner bastard is pet enough.
(Photo: Bernd Schifferdecker (illustration))