Montreal woman says cat missing at Toronto airport after possibly escaping carrier on overseas flight

Abir Batikhi is fearing the worst.

The Montreal woman’s cat Caramel has been missing for more than two weeks now.

Caramel is a white and orange short-haired cat who is microchipped.

“I arrived in Montreal in the morning, I received four cages, one of them was empty and Caramel was out of the cage,” Batikhi said as she described the heart-wrenching moment staff at the Montreal-Pierre-Elliott Trudeau International Airport informed her of her beloved cat’s misfortune after getting off her flight from Jordan on Aug. 17.

When she inquired about where Caramel could possibly be, Batikhi says she was informed her cat had stayed in the cargo area of the plane, which had already continued on to its second and final destination, the Toronto Pearson International Airport.

“I cannot describe this feeling, I wish nobody will have it,” she told CityNews, holding back tears. “It makes me really sad that Caramel is now outside and we don’t know where she is.”

After multiple calls to customer service, Batikhi was told her cat was last seen at Pearson’s Terminal 3, around Gate 29 or 30, which she described as a “no-public, secure area.”

Since then, and now more than two weeks since the ordeal began, she says she’s called the airport every day and finally received an update on Caramel’s whereabouts Wednesday. An airline manager at the Montreal Trudeau airport confirmed in a written statement Caramel had been last seen Aug. 17 underneath the hood of ground service equipment parked at Vista Cargo, in what he called a much safer and accessible area than the baggage rooms.

“They saw her in the GTA Dnata, which is the cargo for the food centre,” Batikhi said.

“That just now makes me feel good, maybe she might be eating,” she added with slight relief, as she described how worried she’s been at the thought of Caramel starving after nearly three weeks missing.

A spokesperson for Toronto Pearson tells CityNews the airport was notified about the missing cat by Royal Jordanian Airlines, and it mobilized its wildlife team to search for Caramel.

“Wildlife crews are conducting daily sweeps of the baggage room and airside and groundside areas and have set up humane live-capture traps,” the spokesperson said. “We have also alerted ground handling crews to be on the lookout and to report any sightings immediately.

“We understand how important it is for owners to be reunited with their pets.”

Batikhi says in addition to remaining in constant contact with airport staff, she’s taken it upon herself to turn to social media in the hopes that it could help in locating Caramel.

“Please help me to find Caramel before she died in airports, she will be starving to death,” Batikhi wrote on social media last week.

According to her, she’s received instrumental support from many animal lovers in various groups on Facebook, that she says have helped in way many ways.

“There are a lot of ladies and gentlemen in the groups who are helping me — they’re going out search in their area, they went especially to the airports, outside restaurants, they’re posting flyers, they’re sharing groups, they’re telling their friends,” she said.

Adding that she’s ever thankful for their loving actions towards Caramel and their many attempts at locating her.