(Road Warrior Voices) -- OK, let's have a quick recap of what you're supposed to do when you reach the airport security screening area: you remove your shoes and belt, hold your pants up with one hand while you fumble to pull three nickels out of your front pocket, and then you put all of your belongings in a bin to go through the X-ray machine.
You are NOT supposed to put your cat on that conveyor belt, sending it through like it's a four-legged carry-on bag. One as-yet-unidentified man did that very thing at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, causing both the other travelers and the TSA agents to freak the heck out.
According to eyewitnesses, everyone who saw what was happening panicked, loud enough to catch the attention of comedians the Sklar Brothers (or at least one of them), who were elsewhere in the terminal.
The cat, who was in a soft-sided pet carrier, came out of the other side of the scanner unharmed. According to the FDA, the X-ray scanners at airports do not emit a harmful amount of radiation, exposing passengers to a lower amount of radiation than fruit or produce that is irradiated to kill bacteria. Two Austrian airports actually require pets to be placed through an X-ray machine before they are allowed to be carried onto a flight. Even so, DO NOT DO THIS. Do NOT put your pet through the scanner. TSA spokesperson Lorie Dankers reiterated that sentiment, telling LA Weekly:
It's not unheard of that people have done that, which is why we try to educate them. When you travel with your pet, do not put your pet on the X-ray. The number one thing is you should never separate yourself from your pet.
And she's right, it does happen; another passenger apparently sent her cat through the X-ray machine at LAX a day earlier.
The Sklar Brothers were actually on a flight with the Cat X-Ray Guy (which is how he will be referred to for the rest of his natural life) and posted a picture of him on Instagram. "The ACTUAL guy who put his cat thru the xRay machine was on OUR plane," one Sklar wrote. "For the record he stowed his wife in the overhead compartment."
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More unusual items found by the TSA:
