Safe delivery of cheetah
Fingal company fly out cat
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Wednesday March 18 2009
Multi Cargo Ltd, based just off the airport campus in Santry, billed the special delivery as another 'fat cat' leaving Ireland for Spain.
This time it was Madrid and the fat cat in question was not some dodgy businessman but a young female cheetah.
The cheetah, bred in Fota Wildlife Park in Cork, was being shipped as part of a breeding programme to Oasys Park in Spain. Ciaran McDonald, sales director for Multi Cargo, said: 'The young female Acinonyx Jubatus was born in Fota in 2006 and will, we are sure, appreciate the warmer climes of Spain compared to the present climate in Ireland.' The young kitten was flying on a direct Iberia flight from Dublin to Madrid and the ground handling was done by Servisair Cargo Dublin Airport.
The staff of Multi Cargo affectionately called the beautiful animal 'Guepard', the Spanish for cheetah. Some thirteen years ago Ciaran McDonald, Eileen Grealy and Pat MacCallian left their jobs of 15 years to set up an air-freight company on the doorstep of Dublin Airport.
Since that time the company has gone from strength to strength and expanded its business to road and sea-freight too. Now employing 12 people, the company has a range of niche specialisations like domestic relocations, animals and all the equipment that comes with rock stars. 'The things we move are wide, varied and exotic and we move shipments all over the world. There's a great sense of achievement when we get whatever we're shipping to its destination,' Ciaran McDonald told the Fingal Independent.
Ciaran hails from Balrothery and is the sales director and cofounder of the company whose motto is 'Anything, Anywhere - On Time'.
All the staff are specially trained to handle animals and the company observes strict international guidelines on the transportation of animals.
travelling
- JOHN MANNING
