When TSA officials discover an item an airline passenger isn’t supposed to have, it’s usually along the lines of an oversized shampoo bottle — not an animal, alive or fake.
In two recent, separate incidents, TSA officials have detected both a live and a stuffed animal that did not pass TSA regulations.
On Feb. 6 at 10:30 a.m., TSA officials stated a “stowaway” frog had hopped out of a passenger’s carry-on bag at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania. TSA Northeast Public Affairs spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said the frog “recently triggered an alarm” during TSA’s screening process at the airport.
The image the TSA spokesperson shared showed a little brown amphibian-like creature with its legs folded neatly underneath its brown-speckled body, sitting atop the black canvas of a passenger’s bag.
TSA has few guidances regarding the transport of “small pets,” though TSA implied the passenger in this particular instance was unaware the frog was in the bag.
“Small pets are allowed through the checkpoint. Please check with your airline for their policy,” the site read. If a person brings their pet to the airport, the animal must be removed from its carrying case, and the case has to but put onto the X-ray machine.
The passenger must then bring their pet through the metal detector, and animal carriers will also undergo a visual and physical inspection.
On Monday, TSA officials from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas said they had found a stuffed animal monkey in a passenger’s carry-on bag on Friday — but this time, the animal wasn’t the main concern.
Fifty rounds of ammunition were hidden inside the stuffed monkey, according to officials. Ammunition is not allowed inside carry-on baggage at any airport, according to TSA’s site, and is only allowed at some airlines. The site suggested passengers check with the airline they’re flying with to see if ammunition is allowed in checked bags.
Read more: Boston Logan passenger said he ‘forgot’ loaded gun in carry-on bag, official says
“Small arms ammunitions must be securely packed in fiber, wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition,” the site stated.
These recent animal-related finds come after TSA officials had already discovered a dog, a cat and a snake in passengers’ carry-on luggage in the past year.
In early Dec. 2022, a TSA spokesperson said agents spotted a dog as a bag passed through an X-ray machine at Dane County Regional Airport, in the state capital of Madison.
The dog owner had left their companion in the bag accidentally, the TSA said. The agency reminded travelers they must notify the airline if flying with any pets and that the animals should be removed from their carriers at security screening.
TSA agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City had made a similar find in November 2022 when they caught a stowaway feline in a passenger’s checked suitcase. The cat did not belong to the traveler — but instead to another member of his household — and had snuck into the baggage, a TSA spokesperson said.
And, according to TSA officials in Tampa International Airport in early January 2023, a passenger attempted bringing an “emotional support snake” through the airport. The 4-foot-long boa constrictor, however, was not allowed on the plane while loose inside the bag, officials stated.
Travel rules for pets vary by airline. With Delta, some pets can join their owners on board a flight, while others need to be shipped — “as (very special) cargo,” the airline says. American Airlines has similar guidelines.