Bird part of the luggage

Sharene van Vuuren was waiting for her luggage at the airport carousel when her pet bird appeared on the revolving conveyor belt instead.

Van Vuuren said other Mango airline passengers at OR Tambo International Airport were as horrified as she when the bird appeared on the belt along with suitcases and bags.

"First of all, I freaked out. I screamed: 'How can they put an animal on here!' and one of the other passengers said: 'You're joking, is it an animal?' I replied: 'Yes, it's my bird'," Van Vuuren said.

Luckily, the bird, a weaver which was in a special ventilated bag, was still alive.

On Sunday last week, Van Vuuren flew from Durban to Johannesburg and paid R60 to have the bird transported on the same flight. She said Mango staff informed her she could collect her precious cargo at the "fragile section".

"An apology I'll accept but I want to know why it was done. They can keep my money. I just want to know why and how this happened. How many other animals get thrown around like that? - that is the scary part."

The bird died the following day, but Van Vuuren said she would not blame the airline .

Yesterday, Mango's communications manager, Hein Kaiser, offered the airline's apology.