A three-week cat hunt at Boston airport is over.
After nearly a month spent eluding not just the staff of Logan International airport but also hi-tech wildlife cameras and special traps, the cat, Rowdy, was finally caught on Wednesday.
Rowdy first escaped on 24 June after a flight in the cargo hold from Germany with her owner, Patty Sahli. When Sahli went to pick her up from the baggage service office, airline employees admitted they had no idea where she was.
Sahli posted on social media that her cat had slipped out of her cage after spotting birds in the cargo bay, sending staff scrambling to retrieve her, in vain.
Later, to lure her out from hiding, they set up traps with food and water throughout the basement, and Sahli laid out items of her own clothing in an attempt to attract Rowdy with her scent.
As the fruitless weeks dragged on, Sahli began to despair that Rowdy – who always had a rebellious streak, according to her owner, chewing through bags of treats in order to eat them – would be found.
Logan airport said Wednesday that the cat was finally caught in Terminal E in one of the traps.
“Boston airport employees, Massport, construction workers, Lufthansa and local animal advocates worked in a great teaming (??) effort to locate her and safely trap her,” Sahli wrote on Facebook.
“She looks great, is happy to be with people and I am sure will be happy to be reunited with us.”
“Whether out of fatigue or hunger we’ll never know, but this morning she finally let herself be caught,” the airport said in a statement.
Rowdy, it said, had acted “true to her name”.
