Adam Stephenson and Bethany Mulcahy-Stephenson visited Crete in Septemeber of 2023. There on the greek island they fell in love with a pregnant stray cat the named Abba.

Abba “had a very distinctive bulging eye that needed to be removed”, Bethany Mulcahy-Stephenson, a veterinary nurse, said.

In May 2024 they returned to the greek island of Crete for their wedding and they went to find Abba and found her now pregnant again with four kittens in tow.

Naming the kittens Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Frida two had conjunctivitis an infection of the eyes and one was blinded from it.

Frantically contacting a local rescuer they made arrangements for them to have a home temporarily until they could arrange to bring them back home.

“It was a life or death decision,” said Mulcahy-Stephenson. 

“No doubt at least the blind one and probably one of the other ones would be dead by now. So we were a bit like, OK, well, it’s a no-brainer.”

A plan was created that started with getting the cats treated for their health issues and then vaccinated. from there they were to be flown on Aegean Airlines to Paris, France. From there the couple would drive down from their home in Lancashire, UK to pick them up.

Due to airline policy only two of the five cats were able to be in the passenger cabin and the other three kittens had to be placed in the cargo hold.

Mulcahy-Stephenson said:

 “When we arrived at the Eurotunnel shuttle terminal, we got a text from Lida, our rescuer in Greece, saying: ‘Bethany, the airline has lost three of the kittens,’ and it was absolute panic.”

“I immediately went into complete shock panic, just absolute bedlam,” she said. “We didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t even know where they were, if they [had] left Greece, if they were in France or if they had been left on the tarmac.”

It took some time and a lot of anxiety but the kittens were eventually found. As it turned out they were never unloaded from the cargo hold and were sent back to Greece.

Mulcahy-Stephenson said:

 “They were somehow forgotten in the hold, or not seen. They didn’t come off the plane at all, and the plane got sent straight back to Thessaloniki, which is another three-hour flight.

When the kittens did not arrive in France, the couple immediately feared the worst. “I thought they were going to be dead, never found again, to be honest,” said Mulcahy-Stephenson. “I thought even if they weren’t lost, the shock of being in the noisy hold, [where] it’s cold, they’ve had no food, water … There was a lot of stuff going through my mind, but I didn’t think we were going to see them again.”

The airline at first said it would be a two day wait until they could send the kittens back but they eventually reversed that decision choosing to send them back immediately out of Athens this time safe in the passenger cabin and with a caretaker who kept a close eye on them.

After being reunited Bethan said: 

“I was shining the torch in there to count them all 10 times. I was so relieved to see them and have them in the car, safe.”

She continued: 

“When they arrived, they were absolutely traumatised, they wouldn’t eat, we had them in the emergency vet.”

The Stephensons said that they never received an apology or a good explanation for the misplacement of the kittens from Aegean Airlines

Adam Stephenson said: 

“We’d like the airline to acknowledge what the problem is here, and in an ideal world we’d love to force some kind of change … to not have animals in the hold.”

Aegean airlines said: 

“With regard to the three kittens you mentioned, we would like to clarify that they were never lost at any time. Upon the arrival of the flight in Paris, they were not immediately disembarked due to operational reasons. As soon as this was identified, a coordinated response was promptly activated among all involved stations and our customer service department, in order to safeguard their care and security until their reunion with their guardians.”

“The kittens continued their journey the same day under the direct care of the Aegean crew, which provided them with food and water during the flight, ensuring constant supervision. The same evening, they were safely reunited with their guardians in Paris.”