By Canadian Press

WestJet finds lost gecko, owner wants airline to change policy on pet transport

Jul 27, 2016 | 1:20 PM

VANCOUVER — A pet gecko that disappeared after its owner put it on a WestJet flight from Toronto to Vancouver last Sunday has been found alive.

Meryl Bishop, the owner of Nom the gecko, received a call from the airline Wednesday afternoon to say the animal had been found.

The 11-centimetre lizard had had no food and little water since she was placed in the cargo hold of a plane. All Nom had was a damp paper towel placed in her carrier to keep her cool and create some humidity.

After picking up Nom, Bishop posted a picture on Facebook of the gecko crawling up her T-Shirt.

“She looks good! A little skinnier, but she loves to eat so it won’t take long for her to gain that weight back,” Bishop said in a Facebook message.

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She said in a Facebook post that Nom was found in the baggage department but that WestJet hadn’t given her a full explanation for the animal’s disappearance.

The Calgary-based airline said in an earlier statement that it issued a countrywide alert for Nom and asked its employees to check all its cargo facilities and warehouses.

Bishop said she wants WestJet to change its policies requiring some animals to be transported in the lower hold of a plane.

She says the incident could have been avoided if WestJet had been more flexible and allowed Nom to travel in the cabin.

“Something needs to change so no one else has to go through the heartbreak I’ve been going through,” she wrote.

The Canadian Press