Airline: Continental
Incident Date: Jun 15, 2009
Report Date: August 2009
Incident Type: Death
Animal: Dog
Brachycephalic: Yes Definition
Animal Age: 3 years
Flight Number: 1595
Originating Airport: FLL (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Intl)
Destination Airport: LAX (Los Angeles Intl)
Reporting Airport: LAX (Los Angeles Intl)
Report:
CO Flight #1595 Houston to Los Angeles Dog – French Bulldog / 3yrs old June 28, 2009 Male / Name: “Norman”
DOT Incident Reporting – June 2009 Page 2 July 15, 2009
Owner/Guardian REDACTED
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION
Description of the Incident: “Norman” was being transported with another family dog (Bassett Hound) from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles. On the flight from Houston to Los Angeles, Norman was found deceased in LAX while the Bassett Hound and 3 other customer’s animals all arrived safely and without incident.
Description of the Cause of the Incident: A necropsy was performed at the customer’s Veterinarian at Continental’s expense and the Pathologist noted that the final diagnosis was “there appears to be a component of hypoxia …” and “..likely resulting in arrhythmia and/or cardiac arrest. The short and distorted nasal and nasopharyngeal anatomy of brachiocephalic dogs undoubted contributes to this occurrence.” The handling of these 2 animals during their connection in Houston was efficient and exceeding carrier standards, as the team was pre-alerted to the French Bulldog’s vulnerability (as is the nature of this breed) and air-conditioned vans were promptly dispatched to the inbound and outbound aircraft and these dogs were not exposed to hot temperatures for any amount of time. The connection was between 10am- 10:40am and temperatures remained at or below 86 degrees.
Description of any corrective action taken: None. The death of this pet is more related to the natural problems occurring with this breed and all procedures were followed.
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