Gypsy the cat takes flight

By Annabella Gamboni
Like all pet owners, skydiver Marty Lloyd thinks his cat Gypsy is really something special.
And maybe he’s got a point – how many pet cats do you know that have used air travel?
Of an aerial pedigree, Gypsy has no problem hanging out on the runway at Hood Aerodrome,Masterton, and has flown in aeroplanes “several times”, Mr Lloyd said.
But Gypsy has now been missing from their home at the aerodrome base since the August 25 and so Mr Lloyd is offering something different for the safe return of Gypsy: a free skydiving lesson under his tutelage.
Mr Lloyd is desperate to find her.
“She’s very special to me. When you live alone, you become very close to your animals,” he said.
Gypsy is a particularly friendly and inquisitive cat, almost like a dog, he said.
“She’s the boss of the drop [skydiving base]. She’ll sit up on the reception and make sure everyone follows her orders, whether or not the customers have got a problem with it or not… She’s the boss.”
Gypsy spends much of her free cat time around the viewing carpark at the aerodrome, hoping to score some scraps from the many local residents who use it as a picnic spot.
The last time Mr Lloyd saw the slippery feline was at the carpark six days ago, he said.
He hopes that her curiosity hasn’t killed her, and that she’s simply hopped into an unknowing driver’s backseat.
He urges anyone who has been in the area to check their car boots to check she hasn’t been hiding all this time.
It’s not the first time Gypsy has been in such a scratch – once she slipped inside a wall and was missing for 12 days before Mr Lloyd heard her small mews.
“And then she just popped out like it was nothing,” he said.