SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - It took longer than expected, but a Summerside woman trying to get herself and two cats – Romeo and Lucy – home from Egypt is finally on red soil.
Doiron’s mother, Judy Gallant, who helped her daughter connect with fellow travelling Islanders willing to lend a hand, said all three were resting up after their long journey.
“Romeo and Lucy have settled in quite nicely and are glad their trans-Atlantic travel days are over. They spent part of the day checking out their new home and … jet lag has totally set in,” Gallant said.
Last week, the Journal Pioneer wrote an article about Leanne Doiron’s efforts to get her cats home, and a Facebook connection with another Islander coming from a world away that was supposed to make help make the journey happen.
Doiron was able to take one cat in its carrier on the plane with her, while the other would be transported in a heated section of the cargo hold from Cairo to Toronto.
However, her flight from Toronto to P.E.I, which landed on Christmas Eve, had no such heated cargo space and the rule of only one cat accompanying her on the plane doesn't change.
Her only option, according to WestJet, was to ask other passengers on her flight if they would mind carrying on her second cat.
Another Island woman on that flight stepped forward with an offer to carry the second cat, however, complications at the airport in Toronto resulted in Doiron missing her Christmas Eve flight home to P.E.I. Namely, when she tried to board her plane she was informed her cat cages had to be soft-sided. Hers were not.
This resulted in Doiron being stranded in Toronto until the night of Dec. 26, when she was finally able to get a flight to Charlottetown.
A second person agreed to transport one of the cats on the second flight and Doiron is now home in Summerside with her family.
