The indignity of air travel often makes us feel like herded cattle. And now New York’s Kennedy airport is making the metaphor real with the world’s first terminal for animals. And it sounds pretty swank.
Here are 10 things we’ve learnt so far -
1 - It’s called the Ark (as in Noah’s)
2 - The new luxury terminal will handle more than 70,000 animals flying in and out every year.
3 - Horses and cows will occupy sleek, climate-controlled stalls with showers
4 - Dogs will relax in high-end hotel suites ($100/night) complete with flat-screen TVs. Their devoted owners can check in on them via webcam.
5 - A special space for penguins will allow them mating privacy.
6 - The $48m, 178,000-square-foot shelter and quarantine facility will host every kind of animal imaginable.
7 - It will offer a luxury ‘resort’ run by the company Paradise 4 Paws, complete with bone-shaped splashing pools, massage therapy and ‘pawdicures with colored nail pawlish.’
8 - Cats will have their own trees to climb.
9 - All animals will have access to a 24-hour clinic run by Cornell University’s veterinary college.
10 - Hold on a minute. We mere mortals are stuck with Gatwick? Who do we have to walk around here to get access to this luxury haven?
