Bolivia’s state airline has turned to an “interspecies communicator,” a fancy name for a clairvoyant who claims to be able to communicate with animals, to find Motan Tito, who it lost in December, The Guardian reports.

Boliviana de Aviacion (BoA) lost its pilot on December 8 when its owner was en route from the southern city of Tarija to the city of Santa Cruz, and upon arrival was told that Tito was missing.

Two weeks later, the daily newspaper El Pais noted that the case had become a real public issue in Bolivia after all efforts to find the motan had failed.

Andrea Iturre, the owner of the cat, explained that it is a therapy animal and that she arrived in Bolivia a few days ago to pick up the cat and take it to Ireland.

“I’m sure you’ll purr again and fill my clothes with hair. I won’t stop until I find you and I don’t know what happened to you boy. The search continues, please let’s not forget that Tito is still missing and his family is eagerly waiting for him,” the message shared on social media said.

In turn, the state-owned airline has offered a $500 reward for anyone who finds the motan, but so far there is no indication of what happened to Tito, despite searches also taking place in Santa Cruz and Tarija, as initially reported BoA representatives said. that Tito got out of his cage and got lost during transport to the airport hangar.

It’s not just about a lost cat

However, a clairvoyant from the capital La Paz contacted Iturre via WhatsApp to let her know she was alive, and was then contacted by the airline to help with the search.

The situation has sparked a wave of criticism on social media in the country against the state-owned company, which was created in 2007, shortly after the left-wing Movimiento al Socialismo party came to power.

MAS has run Bolivia almost continuously since 2006, during which time it has nationalized a major company and established dozens of other state-owned companies.

Most of these companies are loss-making or do not publish their financial results.

However, a notable exception is YPFB, the national gas company that generates three quarters of all revenues received by public companies in this country in a context where natural gas is Bolivia’s main export product.

Skytrax, an airline rating website, awarded BoA two stars out of a possible five last year. Representatives of the state-owned company said about the situation that the questionnaires used by Skytrax are outdated and questioned their objectivity.