Jacksonville's Airport Deals With Cats Gone Wild

"Oh my God, what the hell is this?"

That was reportedly Mike McNamee's reaction after opening the door to his office at Jacksonville International Airport not long ago. The food services manager had discovered that his office had been vandalized over the previous weekend. There was a huge hole in the ceiling. Papers were scattered all over the office. And, ewww, that smell!

No, terrorists didn't break into Mike's office. It was a cat. Or several cats.

Wild cats are prowling JIA.

The problem apparently started when the airport cracked down on employees who left treats for the wild kitties, in violation of the rules. When the snacks were no longer forthcoming, the cats apparently took it upon themselves to find food inside the airport itself.

Which, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union, leads to questions about airport security. What happens when a cat bolts through the security checkpoints, giving TSA screeners no more than a swish of their tails as they violate protocol?

"If they do access a secure area, we may have to do criminal history checks on them," joked TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover.

It's becoming more than a laughing matter. When Airport Police Lt. Richard Hern heard -- then smelled -- a cat from somewhere inside his concrete block wall, he called for a construction crew. They had to cut a hole in the wall to free the cat, which had been sealed in during a recent airport expansion project.

"I thought he was going to be entombed," said Hern. "I felt bad for him. I didn't want to see him to die that way."

Jacksonville International is no stranger to annoying creatures. There are the raccoons, birds and even a five-foot long alligator that strutted into a hanger three years ago. But the cats are the first to invade the terminal complex itself.

So, JIA has called in the experts. A company called "Critter Control" conducted a sweep recently, rounding up 20 cats outside the terminal and several inside.

"This is definitely new ground," said JIA general manager Danette Bewley. "But it's not cat-astrophic."

(Okay, you run the airport, we'll do the jokes -- ed.)

FMI: www.jaxairports.org