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It was like the feline version of the 2004 Tom Hanks movie “The Terminal.”
The sad saga of a cat that was ditched at an airport before a flight in Lebanon is prompting waterworks across social media.
“You don’t leave family behind!!!” veterinarian Rana Hamieh, 30, captioned a TikTok video of the incident with over 2.9 million views.
According to the clip, the owner brought the cat to the flight hub for a trip, although the intended destination was unclear.
However, the feline’s owner “didn’t have the proper paperwork for boarding the flight, so they decided to abandon him at the airport,” per the clip.
An accompanying pic included in the footage shows the two-year-old domestic short-hair cat lying next to the check-in counter alongside several articles of clothing.
“He was thrown away with some luggage,” lamented Hamieh in a caption.
The animal rescuer and TikTokker had been alerted to the kitten’s involuntary layover by a friend who works at the airport in Beirut, Newsweek reported. She decided to call Hamieh for help after witnessing the animal’s plight.
Upon hearing of the kitty’s predicament, animal lover Hamieh subsequently drove to the airport, where she found the critter cowering “under the escalator railing” at Gate 2 of the airport, as seen in the footage.
“He was hiding in this dangerous spot after being kicked around by ignorant kids,” an on-screen caption explained.
“Poor baby was very scared due to all the commotion around him,” the vet told Newsweek.
She subsequently gave the unlikely airport squatter a thorough checkup, revealing that he had some “trauma” wounds on his body but fortunately no “significant internal bleeding.”
After treating the cat’s injuries, Hamieh transferred him to a foster care facility as her own home was already at capacity.
“Thankfully, he’s doing great at foster care and hopefully he’ll get adopted soon!” she said. “He’s such a strong, resilient boy, and he made a swift recovery considering all the trauma he had to endure.”
A followup clip, captioned “he’s safe,” shows a happy Hamieh swaddling the critter in a blanket following his rescue.
Outraged commenters were quick to lay into the cat’s neglectful ex-owner with one writing, “If I can’t take my cat with me I’m not getting in that plane, wth is wrong with people.”
“People who dump their pets like trash don’t deserve to own animals or have children!” said another. “Thank you for rescuing him.”
“People who could do this to an animal deserve to be in jail,” declared a third.
Meanwhile, one person lamented, “I’m an airport emergency dispatcher, people do this all the time. It’s so sad.”
It is currently at the discretion of each airline whether pets are allowed aboard, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA urges travelers to find out their carrier’s pet policy ahead of time.
