When cats go missing at Pearson, the Star is there

When cats go missing at Pearson, the Star is there

Don't fence me in (Image: Quinn Dombrowski)

There are days when reporters never stop running after a story. There are days when they battle with sources to get the information a well-informed public needs. There are days where Paris Hilton or Britney Spears does something. And then there are days like yesterday, when little of note happens, and we get this story from the Toronto Star:

[Julie Mannell] had planned to bring Ludwig, her 2-year-old domestic shorthair, aboard with her, but airline officials in Montreal said the cat would have to travel in the baggage compartment because she didn’t have a soft-sided carrier.

But on Tuesday, WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer said Ludwig’s cage was actually knocked to the ground as it was being loaded onto a conveyor belt inside Terminal 3…. The cage door popped open “and sure enough, Ludwig made a dash for it,” Palmer said, adding the cat was unhurt but “probably scared out of its mind.”

In fairness, the Star has a long tradition of covering the small issues that slip beneath the radars of other papers. Something smells fishy, though. Is the Star trying to recreate the runaway success of the Salibury Journal‘s “Dog injures nose”? Or was just a really slow news day at 1 Yonge?

Cat missing in WestJet mix-up at Pearson [Toronto Star]
• UK: ‘Dog injures nose’ shocker pulls readers