A Boeing 747 carrying cargo to Hong Kong delivered a little more than it expected this week. As the cargo was being unloaded, the handlers discovered no less than four adorable bundles of fluff hiding amongst the boxes. Had the flight been going much further, the outcome could have been clawful for these furry felines. Thankfully, they are now set to find their purr-fect homes, as they’ll be put up for adoption when their quarantine has finished.

Critters in cargo

Flight SQ7868 is a once-weekly cargo flight operating between Singapore and Hong Kong International. The most recent flight took off from SIN at just before 15:00 on November 6th. The Boeing 747-400, 9V-SFQ, was airborne for around three hours and 40 minutes before it touched down at HKG at just after 19:30 that evening.

Cargo handlers set about unloading the jumbo right away, with plenty of boxes to be shifted off the plane. At around 21:00, as they began to clear more of the cargo, they discovered they had not one but four furry stowaways. Four kittens, two black and two white, were discovered meowndering around on the floor of the cargo hold.

Keen to get in touch with the appropriate claw-thorities, a member of Singapore Airlines’ staff called the local police. On arrival at the scene, the officers decided this was a fur-midable task, requiring specialist assistance to solve. They called the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation (AFCD) to come and apprehend the feline felons.

Facebook page 捕貓捉影 (chasing cats and shadows) shared a video of the fluffballs in the plane and after being caught:

What happened to the cats?

Unlicensed animals arriving from overseas with no owner and no paperwork do not always have a happy ending. As ‘chasing cats and shadows’ pointed out, other stray animals arriving in aircraft have been humanely destroyed within hours of landing, with fears of diseases such as rabies driving the actions of the receiving authorities.

The owner of the Facebook page was determined not to let these animals suffer such a cat-astrophic ending, and they weren’t kitten around. They mobilized their page followers to write to Assistant Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, Mr Cheng Hon, appealing to him to allow the kitties to live.

Whether it was these actions or just the overwhelming cuteness of these fluffy arrivals, it seems Hong Kong’s AFCD has opted to protect the creatures. They will reportedly be checked over thoroughly by vets before spending a period in quarantine in Hong Kong. Once completed, they will be open for adoption through animal welfare agencies.

Let’s hope these well-traveled felines find their purr-fect new home.