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The owner of a cat that got lost in a baggage center at Kennedy Airport has hired a pet detective to search for the missing animal.
"Jack the Cat" got lost in the American Airlines baggage center over the weekend shortly before Irene hit New York and forced airports to shut down for most of the weekend.
The cat's owner, Karen Pascoe, was flying with her two cats, Jack and Barry, to San Francisco last Thursday to start a new job in California.
The cats were flying in separate carriers as cargo, but Jack got out of the kennel and went missing, Pascoe said.
Pascoe told MSNBC she had to continue on to San Francisco because the rest of her luggage and her other cat Barry were already en route to the West Coast.
But her concern grew when she could not reach American Airlines over the weekend.
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“I respect the fact that a hurricane was coming and things were a bit challenging,” Pascoe told MSNBC, “but I didn’t hear from American until about 60 hours later.”
She decided to return to New York to continue looking for Jack, and has also hired a pet detective in her search.
Nicole Mabrey, owner of Lost Pet Investigation, told NBC New York she will begin her search Friday morning at the American Airlines terminal with her "scent-specific" German short-haired pincher.
Pascoe, expected to arrive early Friday morning, will bring some of Jack's other personal items for Mabrey's detective dog to sniff. The dog will then try to track Jack based on the scent.
"He will only track what I ask him to track," said Mabrey.
Mabrey estimates a recovery rate of 72 percent, and said if Jack is not at the terminal the scent trail will end quickly.
She said she will also leave out fried chicken and sardines in the hopes of luring him out.
"I hope he is there and I hope we can pinpoint his area," Mabrey said.
American Airlines told msnbc that its JFK employees “are using a variety of methods to try to find Jack, including setting cans of cat food by his kennel. Additionally, we are working with the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City to assist in providing humane animal traps … We offer our sincere regrets for this incident and are doing everything possible to locate him.”
