Lyft driver takes off with cat, global search ensues
(2023/10/02)
- Reference: 1696246212
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/02/lyft_driver_takes_off_with/
- Source link:
One man’s hunt for his cat captivated an entire town, and the internet, after a Lyft driver allegedly sped off with the kitty still inside on Saturday afternoon.
According to Palash Pandey, who recounted his tale on both [1]Twitter/X and [2]Reddit, he was taking his cat Tux to the vet via ridesharing platform Lyft. On reaching Banfield Pet Hospital, he exited the vehicle and began to walk around to the other side of the car to grab his cat, which was contained in a blue carrier inside the vehicle, when the driver took off.
After two hours of attempting to contact the driver via Lyft app, the driver responded via text on Lyft app to say he did not have the cat.
[3]
A three messages and three calls per ride allowance on the app meant Pandey had no further way to contact the driver.
[4]
[5]
“Dude, contact local news. Raise an utter shitstorm and force Lyft to make this right,” [6]suggested one Reddit user, which is exactly the journey Pandey then embarked upon.
After a subpar response from Lyft, in which the company allegedly [7]told him they would contact the driver and he would need to pay $20 as a standard fee for returning lost property, Pandey filed a police report on the microchipped cat.
[8]
He also began to make aforementioned shitstorm.
But he wasn’t alone; one stranger claimed they [9]contacted the Austin Humane Society, others shared [10]flyers at physical locations and on social media, and more still joined full-on search parties.
Some attempted to [11]track down the driver himself, although Pandey [12]asked the public to not dox or harass the driver. Meanwhile, the search for Tux began to attract global attention online.
[13]
The police contacted the driver, who eventually called Pandey and told him he did not know anything of the cat’s whereabouts, was allergic to cats, and had picked up other riders after he had dropped off Pandey.
[14]Cat saves 'good bots' from Twitter API purge
[15]Texts from your dog and brain-free astronomy: The best of the rest from CES
[16]The IT decision-maker that really matters? Your pet
[17]Dog forgets all about risk of drowning in a marsh as soon as drone dangles a sausage
The day started to wear on, and according to Pandey, he searched the dumpsters of gas stations between the hospital and a major freeway. The case was then upgraded from being assigned a single investigator to the animal cruelty department.
Pandey soon took a break from searching for the cat online and offline to film a [18]local news segment. At this point he finally got Lyft’s attention. An exec called to say they had formed a search party for Tux.
The company [19]tweeted Pandey’s flyer and according to both [20]CEO David Rishner and a company [21]blog post , every Lyft rider and driver in Austin was sent an alert with the picture of Tux.
Rishner [22]tweet/X’d that he recognized the first response from his company was awful, but that the team was indeed involved in the search.
“We realize we could have done better in communicating regular updates to the rider and the community,” Lyft told The Register via email.
Eventually, in the wee hours of Monday morning, good news came in. The police found the cat, sans carrier, on a set of stairs near a realtor's office.
“She looks very tired, is covered in fleas, and dehydrated. She started eating wet food again, which is a good sign, but I'll monitor her and take her to the vet as soon as she calms down and stabilizes a bit,” [23]Pandey reported upon Tux’s return.
He promises to update again once he hears from the vet. ®
Get our [24]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708268666347811194
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/k2xvvj5/
[7] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708320733032587360
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/k31fiys/
[10] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708529025646276836
[11] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/k2y8cu9/
[12] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708347568856387803
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/06/cat_saves_good_twitter_bots/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/09/more_weirdness_ces/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/14/the_it_decisionmaker_that_really/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/sausage_drone_rescues_dog/
[18] https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/cat-separated-from-owner-after-lyft-trip/
[19] https://twitter.com/lyft/status/1708681845057958330
[20] https://twitter.com/davidrisher/status/1708718426779472057
[21] https://www.lyft.com/blog/posts/a-lyft-riders-cat-is-missing-help-us-find-tux
[22] https://twitter.com/davidrisher/status/1708688281846841396
[23] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708743606318637482
[24] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
According to Palash Pandey, who recounted his tale on both [1]Twitter/X and [2]Reddit, he was taking his cat Tux to the vet via ridesharing platform Lyft. On reaching Banfield Pet Hospital, he exited the vehicle and began to walk around to the other side of the car to grab his cat, which was contained in a blue carrier inside the vehicle, when the driver took off.
After two hours of attempting to contact the driver via Lyft app, the driver responded via text on Lyft app to say he did not have the cat.
[3]
A three messages and three calls per ride allowance on the app meant Pandey had no further way to contact the driver.
[4]
[5]
“Dude, contact local news. Raise an utter shitstorm and force Lyft to make this right,” [6]suggested one Reddit user, which is exactly the journey Pandey then embarked upon.
After a subpar response from Lyft, in which the company allegedly [7]told him they would contact the driver and he would need to pay $20 as a standard fee for returning lost property, Pandey filed a police report on the microchipped cat.
[8]
He also began to make aforementioned shitstorm.
But he wasn’t alone; one stranger claimed they [9]contacted the Austin Humane Society, others shared [10]flyers at physical locations and on social media, and more still joined full-on search parties.
Some attempted to [11]track down the driver himself, although Pandey [12]asked the public to not dox or harass the driver. Meanwhile, the search for Tux began to attract global attention online.
[13]
The police contacted the driver, who eventually called Pandey and told him he did not know anything of the cat’s whereabouts, was allergic to cats, and had picked up other riders after he had dropped off Pandey.
[14]Cat saves 'good bots' from Twitter API purge
[15]Texts from your dog and brain-free astronomy: The best of the rest from CES
[16]The IT decision-maker that really matters? Your pet
[17]Dog forgets all about risk of drowning in a marsh as soon as drone dangles a sausage
The day started to wear on, and according to Pandey, he searched the dumpsters of gas stations between the hospital and a major freeway. The case was then upgraded from being assigned a single investigator to the animal cruelty department.
Pandey soon took a break from searching for the cat online and offline to film a [18]local news segment. At this point he finally got Lyft’s attention. An exec called to say they had formed a search party for Tux.
The company [19]tweeted Pandey’s flyer and according to both [20]CEO David Rishner and a company [21]blog post , every Lyft rider and driver in Austin was sent an alert with the picture of Tux.
Rishner [22]tweet/X’d that he recognized the first response from his company was awful, but that the team was indeed involved in the search.
“We realize we could have done better in communicating regular updates to the rider and the community,” Lyft told The Register via email.
Eventually, in the wee hours of Monday morning, good news came in. The police found the cat, sans carrier, on a set of stairs near a realtor's office.
“She looks very tired, is covered in fleas, and dehydrated. She started eating wet food again, which is a good sign, but I'll monitor her and take her to the vet as soon as she calms down and stabilizes a bit,” [23]Pandey reported upon Tux’s return.
He promises to update again once he hears from the vet. ®
Get our [24]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708268666347811194
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/k2xvvj5/
[7] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708320733032587360
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/k31fiys/
[10] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708529025646276836
[11] https://www.reddit.com/r/Lyft/comments/16wlgnd/need_help_lyft_driver_drove_off_with_my_pet_cat/k2y8cu9/
[12] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708347568856387803
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRrpJ06Ztr3pLVlLCyGGYQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/06/cat_saves_good_twitter_bots/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/09/more_weirdness_ces/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/14/the_it_decisionmaker_that_really/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/sausage_drone_rescues_dog/
[18] https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/cat-separated-from-owner-after-lyft-trip/
[19] https://twitter.com/lyft/status/1708681845057958330
[20] https://twitter.com/davidrisher/status/1708718426779472057
[21] https://www.lyft.com/blog/posts/a-lyft-riders-cat-is-missing-help-us-find-tux
[22] https://twitter.com/davidrisher/status/1708688281846841396
[23] https://twitter.com/palashp40616755/status/1708743606318637482
[24] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: That's criminal
TheMaskedMan
"The fact that we humans treat animals as property and not as things that have a right to exist and not suffer says something about our value system, and it's not good at all."
Absolutely agree. It also says a lot that the driver didn't consider how much distress his actions might cause to the owner, too. Clearly an asshole.
Re: That's criminal
Juan Inamillion
How do you know it was the driver who ejected the cat?
Re: That's criminal
Doctor Syntax
And even if it was it might not be possible to prove it.
Re: That's criminal
Howard Sway
The taxi driver chucked the cat out because it refused to cough up the fur.
Re: That's criminal
Korev
Yeah, he didn't want to pay the tabby...
Evil Auditor
...Pandey asked the public to not dox...
Call me old-fashioned -and given my age, I probably and rightly am- but when did "dox" enter the realm of proper, written English?
and where's the grammar nazi icon?
KarMann
You rang?
kevin king
lt: from @TomMillerNews on X dot com (formerly Twitter) the everything app:
"Good news! Tux has been reunited with his human.
Early this morning I talked to Palash Pandey who says the cat went missing in Austin after a Lyft driver took off with it following his ride to the vet.
He told me Lyft hired private investigators and found Tux early this a.m."
Two Possibilities
Boo Radley
One, the driver carelessly and cruelly tossed the cat out at random location, or two, next passenger took the cat upon exiting, and they chucked the cat at random location. My money is on number one - because I don't think a random passenger would take the cat unless he intended to keep it himself.
pbgben
I would have thought Lyft tracks the drivers? Could they not see where the driver stopped to "possibly" drop the cat off... What if a driver abducts someone? They must be able to track them
That's criminal
WTAF? The driver takes off, finds a cat in the back, and just ejects it in some random spot? That driver should be criminally charged.
The fact that we humans treat animals as property and not as things that have a right to exist and not suffer says something about our value system, and it's not good at all.