September 2008 Airline Pet Travel Report

Alaska Airlines reports the death of a 4 year-old American Bulldog that arrived deceased at Los Angeles, CA from Ronald Reagan Washington National in Washington, DC. No further information is provided and there is an error in the report that at one point lists the incident airport as San Francisco, CA.

Alaska also reports the death of a 3 year-old American Staffordshire dog in San Francisco, CA from Portland, OR. Again, no real information was provided in the report and as with the previous incident, there is no indication that a necropsy was performed.

Delta Airlines released a detailed report of the death of a 2 year-old brachycephalic dog in Atlanta, GA. The flight to Atlanta arrived too late for the dog to make the connecting flight. Arraignments were made for it to be placed on a later flight and during the loading process it was discovered that the dog was dead. The necropsy indicated; "Due to the degree of external bruising, etc, it appears that the pets" death was due to struggling resulting in cyanosis and collapse. Brachycephalic breeds that are confined to small places are prone to respiratory compromise due to over exertion.” The health certificate also indicated that the dog could travel in temperatures up to 100 degrees, which doesn't seem reasonable for a short nosed dog.

Delta took action to remind its employees not to accept brachycephalic breads when the temperature is over 70 degrees.

On July 7th, 2008 a female dog named Jeddah was lost after the kennel was inspected by TSA but before the kennel was loaded on the United Airlines aircraft at Washington Dulles International in Washington, DC. United stated that an investigation was conducted and all procedures were followed. At the time of the report Jeddah remains missing.

United also reported the death of a cat. The cat was being loaded at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan and a "strong wind" blew the cat off of the loading conveyer in spite of railings. At that time the cat escaped, but was captured and returned to its kennel. Upon arrival in San Francisco, CA the cat was found deceased.

United stated that the incident has caused a review of the procedures at Taipei, but does not list any outcomes of the review.