Seven Puppies Die After Leaving American Airlines Flight
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/seven-puppies-die-after-leaving-american-airlines-flight/
Seven puppies died at Chicago O’Hare airport after flying in the cargo hold of an American Airlines flight. They were part of a group of 14 puppies that were being shipped from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Investigators are looking into the cause of their deaths, but at first glance some of the blame seems to point to excessive heat and a charge that American Airlines ignored its own policy for safely transporting pets.
Airline officials are examining all sorts of possible causes for the death of the seven puppies. They are looking at: heat stroke, carbon monoxide poisoning and pre-existing medical conditions.
But even if a secondary reason emerges, ABC News noted that loading the puppies into the cargo hold when the temperature in Tulsa was expected to exceed 100 degrees, “appears to have violated the airline’s policy for the safe travel of pets.”
That policy states “pets cannot be accepted when the current or forecasted temperature is above 85 degrees Fahrenheit…at any location on the itinerary.”
The Events Of The Day
- The puppies (breed unknown) were loaded into the cargo hold of the American Airlines MD-80 jet on the morning of August 3.
- The puppies were shipped in portable kennels.
- The flight was scheduled to leave Tulsa at 6:30a.m.
- The plane was delayed for one hour on the tarmac in Tulsa where the temperature had climbed to 86 degrees. This was at 7a.m. (USA Today confirmed this with the National Weather Service.)
- All of the puppies were alive when they were removed from the plane and taken to a holding area until they could be placed on their connecting flights.
- As they were being transported to connecting gates, baggage handlers noticed the dogs looking “lethargic.”
- The puppies were taken to a veterinarian, where seven of them eventually died.
American Airlines was quick to make several statements to the public. All of them appeared to give statistical data that diminished the fact that seven young animals lost their lives.
Mary Frances Fagan, a spokeswoman for the airline said, “We are very sorry to learn of the animals’ death and will do all possible to ensure a similar incident doesn’t ever occur again. We’re going to figure out what happened. We’ve been transporting animals for 50 years. We do not want this happening again.”
Fagan also said the puppies’ deaths had to be put into perspective. She explained that American transports 100,000 pets per year with an average of 33 incidents of death, injury or loss.
Tim Smith with American Airlines is pretty confident the necropsy will also point the blame away from his company. “In the overwhelming majority of cases where that happened, the autopsy report clearly showed a pre-existing medical condition on the animal that the owner either did not know about, or chose not to tell us,” said Smith.
All of the airlines have back up that air travel for pets’ is reasonably safe. A report from the Department of Transportation showed that from 2005 – 2009 U.S. airlines “killed, injured or lost 224 dogs.” A relatively small number, compared with the hundreds of thousands of animals that travel in this manner.
Continental Airlines came in first with 58 incidents, then Delta with 43, Alaska Airlines with 36, American at 33 and United Airlines at 17.
Still animal advocates like the Humane Society of the United States suggest that people use pet-friendly airlines or arrange to have their pets fly in the cabin with them – if possible.
And on a final note, no matter whatever is determined to be the cause of the puppies’ death, American Airlines should take note that this is not just a matter of statistics. Each of the seven puppies was a unique living, breathing and feeling creature and the people entrusted with their care - failed them.
Read more: animal welfare, puppy mills, american airlines, seven puppies die, pet travel, shipping puppies
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