Bolivia’s state airline has become the target of ridicule after hiring an “interspecies communicator” to track down a passenger’s missing pet cat.

The disappearance of Tito the cat has been a matter of state business in Bolivia for about a month, ever since the feline was lost by staff of Bolivia’s state-owned airline. Tito’s owner, a woman working in Ireland, was taking the feline from Tarija to Santa Cruz to have it certified as a therapy animal, but was told that the cat had to go into the cargo hold. When the plane landed, she was shocked to see Tito’s cage empty. Airline staff admitted to losing Tito prior to takeoff and the cat’s disappearance became the number one news story in Bolivia. Recently, the Ministry of Justice even hired a self-proclaimed interspecies communicator in hopes of finding the cat.

Photo: Andrea Iturre

Boliviana de Aviacion (BoA), Bolivia’s state airline, was founded in 2007 and has since taken over most internal flight routes in the Andean country. It has also racked up a record number of complaints regarding delays, canceled flights, and lost baggage, so the loss of Tito was the hair that broke the camel’s back, in a way. Still, the way in which the Government handled the situation has been described as laughable.

First, there was the press conference held by Bolivia’s Minister of Consumer Affairs, in which the official explained how “Tito the kitten” liked tuna, so cans of tuna and water had been distributed in areas around the airport where the feline was lost, to make sure he didn’t go hungry. He also added that firefighters and the managers of all airline transport organizations had been asked to join forces to find the cat.

Despite the efforts of the Bolivian Government and other state-controlled organizations to locate poor Tito, the cat was nowhere to be found, so in a desperate effort, the Ministry of Justice announced that it had hired an interspecies communicator who claimed to be able to establish an “energy connection” with Tito and learn details about his whereabouts and wellbeing.

“With his techniques, he can communicate with Tito to find out where he is, if he is scared or hidden, or if something more serious has happened,” Bolivian Vice Minister Jorge Silva told reporters. “So far he has told me that he is still alive, that he is hiding, obviously scared, but that his energies are going down because of lack of food and water.”

Photo: Andrea Iturre

The interspecies communicator has apparently been keeping in touch with the cat’s owner, who has lost their job in Ireland and has remained in the town of Tarija to continue looking for Tito. They have not lost hope of finding the feline, but the chances of that go down with each passing day.

The Government’s hiring of this special communicator – which most people consider a fraud – has attracted a lot of criticism from the general public, with some simply mocking officials and others accusing them of wasting valuable resources.

“If the animal psychic actually finds Tito the cat, I’ll eat my Tweets about the genius behind the idea,” one person tweeted.