Russian 'Fat Cat On Jet' Saga Prompts Calls To Change Animal Air Travel Rules

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2019) Russian lawmaker Aleksei Kornienko has asked Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh to relax air travel rules for pets after a man who smuggled his fat cat into the plane cabin drew the ire of the national airline.

Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot stripped Mikhail Galin of his air miles after it discovered he had swapped his overweight pet for a leaner feline at a weighing station in a Moscow airport. Under the current rules, animals weighing over 8 kilograms (18 Pounds) must fly in the luggage hold.

"I ask you to consider changing and expanding the Federal Aviation Rules... to allow for safeguards and broader opportunities for transporting pets in the plane cabin, based on the principles of morality and humanism," Kornienko wrote in a letter seen by Sputnik.

The legislator, who is a member of the Communist Party, invoked the law "on Responsible Treatment of Animals," which establishes that animals are capable of emotions, prohibits animal cruelty and makes pet owners responsible for their companions.

The story of the fat cat, named Viktor, led to an outcry among Russian pet lovers and made international headlines. Galin described the cat's adventure on the flight from Latvia's Riga to the Pacific Coast city of Vladivostok on his Facebook page, which caught the attention of Aeroflot.