10 – Rhino,
- Another FedEx parcel carried from Switzerland to Ireland as a transfer from Basel Zoo – but for a very particular reason
- One of the infant rhinos in Ireland had only just lost its mother, and without a parent supporting it, this rhino Hoovie wouldn’t make it for very long
- They shipped the Swiss rhino Heidi to act as a surrogate mom for Hoovie, and so they shipped her off with a considerable postage fee
9 – Dead Cat,
- This was sent by a couple in Yorkshire who loved their cat dearly, but when it died on them while travelling abroad they felt so bad that they decided to give it a proper burial at home
- Since they couldn’t afford to wait until they came back home since the cat would decompose, they chose the next logical step – by sending it via mail
- When one delivery website asked them to explain, they gave a long, overly lengthy explanation about why they felt the need to seal up their deceased animal in an envelope and send it to themselves
8 – Live Cat,
- And now to mirror the previous story, let’s talk about the old system of sending mail – such as with pneumatic tubs during the early 1900s that sent mail whizzing through the air direct your home address or business
- In 1931, some guy thought it’d be a great idea to send an entire cat through this tube – which he did, to great success, and one attendee who witnessed the event claimed the cat seemed dazed, but unharmed
- As unharmed as you can be after you’ve been sent hurtling through a pressure tube at 35 miles per hour like you’re the feline equivalent of Augustus Gloop
7 – Children,
- In 1913, the parcel postage system officially begun in the U.S, and so people immediately began to test the limits of what types of packages could be sent
- A couple from Ohio realised they could send their son via parcel instead of by train in order to save money, so they paid for stampage and insured the kid for $50 – because apparently that’s what a human life is worth
- Another sent a small baby to its grandma by post, and at that point the Postmaster finally stepped in to say, well, infants aren’t exactly immune to the general wear and tear from standard postage, let’s just abolish live human mailing shall we
6 – 25,000 Sea Turtle Eggs,
- These were only delivered about 4 years ago after a great tragedy would’ve seen their population obliterated if it weren’t for postage
- A massive oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico polluted the water these turtles called home, so the eggs found all over the place were scooped up and shipped off to the Atlantic Coast in Florida
- Luckily the plan was successful and over 14,000 hatchlings were safely released into the Atlantic Ocean