Bunjee and I met a very sad owner recently who is out to spread the word on airline policy on the safe transportation of live animals, such as our beloved pets.
Willie, a 2 year old English bulldog died on his trip from NY to SF while traveling on American Airlines. In a nutshell, upon arrival in SF, Willie was found to be very sick. Instead of providing medical care to him, American Airline's baggage manager denied the owner access to Willie pending approval from his supervisers. Meanwhile, Willie was left alone and dying in his travel crate. It was 5 hours before the owner could get animal paramedics he's contacted, access to Willie, but by that, it was too late. Willie was gone. The animal paramedic onsite believed Willie could have survived if he was given medical care earlier.
The owner, Terrance is now in litigation with American Airlines because of this. (
www.lclark.edu/org/ncal/willie.html ) and he has set up an online petition hoping it would force American Airlines to stop transporting live animals if they cannot provide proper veterinary care in the event of such an emergency. (
www.ipetitions.com/petition/willie )
We're lucky most of our yorkies are small enough to fly in cabin with us. But it's disgusting that some airlines treat our furbabies as if they're a piece of luggage and deny necessary medical care.
And until changes are made, it think it's important for those of us who do travel with our pets, think twice about flying AA.