Aviation Museum Discovers Litter of Kittens Born in Historic Plane and Helps Rescue the Cats
Hickory Aviation Museum
The Hickory Aviation Museum recently had a litter of surprise visitors.
In October, an employee at the North Carolina museum investigated some strange noises they heard coming from one of the museum's planes and found the source to be a cat and her five kittens, per the Charlotte Observer.
"Not only do we battle rain, wind, heat, wasps, and birds, one of the cats that roams the airport near the terminal decided to have kittens in the T-33 Shooting Star," the museum wrote on Facebook, sharing the news of their feline intruders. "If anyone is looking for a kitten, please stop by during museum hours and inquire. This is why we need to build the museum to get our aircraft indoors!!!!"
After finding the felines, the museum learned that the cat had given birth to the kittens inside its historic Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star and hid them in the plane until they were big enough to be spotted through the cockpit. The Hickory Aviation Museum didn't kick the cats out, according to the Observer. Instead, the facility worked to find a rescue that could adopt out the animals. All of the felines from the Shooting Star plane will be available for adoption once the kittens are around eight weeks old.
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The Humane Society of Catawba County helped the Hickory Aviation Museum safely remove the cats from the building. Instead of trying to catch the cats by hand and potentially scare the felines off the museum grounds and to the Hickory Regional Airport nearby, the rescue set humane traps around the museum. Access to the plane was closed to museum guests until rescuers retrieved the cats.
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On Oct. 31, the Humane Society of Catawba County captured the last cat residing at the Hickory Aviation Museum. The felines are now under the shelter's care, where they will receive their vaccinations and prepare for their adoptions in December.
The mother cat, Phantom, took the longest to track down because she kept outsmarting the traps.
"She steps over the plate and gets the food and jumps out before the trap goes off," Erin Hooks, the director of development for the humane society, told McClatchy News. "I've never seen anything like it."
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This isn't the first time cats have been spotted around aviation. Earlier this month, Greater Good Charities launched an emergency airlift of 54 cats and 36 dogs through its Good Flights program after Hurricane Ian. The flight moved 90 pets out of shelters in Naples, Fort Meyers, and other areas of Florida severely impacted by Hurricane Ian.
"This emergency flight of shelter pets from Florida is one of many efforts that Greater Good Charities is doing to help the people and pets impacted by Hurricane Ian," Liz Baker, CEO of Greater Good Charities, shared in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. "We are planning for possible future transports and are also working diligently with partners in affected and surrounding areas to send in pet food, supplies, and humanitarian aid to help the people and pets reeling from this catastrophic disaster."
