Holiday travel is tough on everyone — even pets: Less than two weeks after a cat snuck into a passenger’s carry-on bag at New York’s JFK airport, officials at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin, reported a traveler had sent their dog through the airport’s security X-ray machine over the weekend.
The dog was a Dachshund-Chihuahua mix. A Transportation Security Administration spokesperson later confirmed to USA Today that the animal was “just a little skittish” when it emerged from the machine.
The Great Lakes Area TSA tweeted about the incident on Tuesday, saying the pooch had been inside a black backpack rather than a carrier.
A dog was accidentally sent through the X-ray @MSN_Airport this week. When traveling with any animal, notify your airline & know their rules. At the checkpoint, remove your pet from the bag and send all items, including the empty carrier, to be screened in the machine. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/JLOStCDsir
— TSA_GreatLakes (@TSA_GreatLakes) December 6, 2022
As the agency posted in a follow-up tweet, pets that are traveling with their owners in the plane should be taken out of their carrier and held (or walked) through the metal detector.
“Send all items, including the empty carrier, to be screened in the machine,” the TSA added.
More than 2 million pets and other live animals travel by air in the United States each year, according to the US Department of Transportation, equal to about 6% of American pets.
In 2015, TSA officials found a live Chihuahua inside a checked suitcase at New York’s La Guardia airport. The pup was reunited with its owner.
