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Told by Holyland Cats staff:

Once, I was walking in Jerusalem with a rescued pudgy puppy, when a German couple (tourists) exclaimed how cute it was. I asked if they would like to take the puppy back to Hamberg with them, and the wife said "Oh, no. We have a dog already. We would like a little cat." They were promptly shown around the neighborhood to see where there were friendly, already-spayed, stray cats living. We eventually entered one particularly darkish alley. When I called, many cats came jumping from all directions. One familiar sweet, light calico leapt out of the garbage room, greeted us, and it was instant love. The couple decided to take her. So I whisked her off to the vet for her rabies shot and health certificate. The next day, I rode in the taxi with them to the airport and made sure that everything was smooth sailing. After they all left, the wife sent me a fax from Hamberg with the following message: "When we approached the plane with the cat in the cage, we began to hand the cage to the stewardess to put the cat in the animal compartment as we had been told. But she smiled and said that we would all be happier if the cat flew in the plane with us. But once we were on the plane, the cage couldn't fit under the seat. The stewardess smiled and said, 'Don't worry. She can fly in first class where there's room for her... You can visit her anytime you want.' So this cat went from a garbage room in a dark alley in Jerusalem to first class KLM in just 24 hours! An inspiration to us all!"

Once I met a woman named Margaret who was an Episcopalean priest from Dallas. She decided to take 2 kittens from our collection of orphans back to Dallas. Once she was back in Dallas with them, she called and told me the following story... At the Israeli airport, the TWA plane taxied all the way down the runway but then just stopped and sat there, without taking off. The captain announced that there was "a problem", and they would have to turn the plane around and return to the beginning in order to deal with it. Back at the beginning of the runway, everyone sat for an hour, wondering the whole time what could be the problem. Finally, the captain announced that "it was too hot in the animal compartment, and now there are 2 kittens flying in the cockpit!" Everyone burst out laughing. During the whole flight, Margaret overheard passengers asking the stewardesses if the kittens were all right, if they had water and food...Upon landing and collecting baggage, people kept asking her, "Are those the kittens?" Many people had missed their connecting flights due to this delay. It was Labor Day weekend, and Kennedy was operating with a skeleton staff. Many workers had to be called in from vacation to deal with the extra arrangements, and many passengers, including Margaret and the kittens, were put up in hotels for the night. All for 2 kittens.

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