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Wily Cheetah Protests Extra Bag Fee By Running Amok in Delta Cargo Hold

A cheetah on its way from Portland to Atlanta escaped from its cage in a Delta Airlines cargo hold Friday, giving baggage handlers a Halloween scare they weren't expecting. As the AP points out, two of the big cats were being transported in the belly of a passenger jet when one of them - the smarter one, presumably - somehow escaped its enclosure and began wandering through the hold. Upon its discovery, animal experts from Zoo Atlanta showed up on the scene and tranquilized the free-spirited feline, who now awaits its owner at the zoo. Of course, everybody's wondering how such a thing could happen. Who at Delta is responsible for packing live cheetahs into crates? We'd hope they double checked that the cage doors were securely shut. While we're at it, who the heck is shipping cheetahs cross-country anyway? The airline won't reveal who owns the animals, but if it's not the zoo itself, it's likely some private, animal-obsessed citizen, and that's kind of weird. In any case, I hope the cheetah enjoys its new southern home and doesn't rack up any more frequent-flier miles.

[Image: cinemovida.net]

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· Cheetah Gets Loose in Cargo Hold of Flight [AP via Yahoo! News]
· Animal Coverage [Jaunted]