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Delta Airlines kills another pet: kitten dies of cold in cargo hold
After a pet death earlier this month, you'd expect Delta Airlines to inspect and improve its protocols for transporting animals.Sadly, another pet has died after a flight on one of their jets - Snickers the (hairless) kitten was just eleven weeks old when she made the trip from Utah to Connecticut.
Her owner, Heather Lombardi paid just under $290 for the pet ticket, which included a $50 surcharge to have Snickers removed from the hold immediately upon landing.
Unfortunately, someone screwed up, as Snickers was left in the hold for 50 minutes in 10 degree weather. When she was reunited with her owner, she could not move her head or paws, and was rushed to a vet wrapped in a coat. Upon arrival at the vet, she had passed away. Because of the cold, Snickers was bleeding from the mouth and nose, a symptom of hypothermia.
A Delta Airlines spokeswoman had the following to say:
"We are turning our attention now to offering our condolences and discussing how we can provide some kind of restitution to support her during this time"Sadly this is just another tragic incident that shows the need for better regulation of pet transport. The US Department of Transportation does track animal deaths, but only of pets that die in transit in the cabin. No numbers are recorded for deaths of pets in the cargo hold.
[Photo: AP/Heather Lombardini]
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines, Airports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Laurella Desborough Jan 27th 2011 1:46PM
Did the shipper properly prepare the crate? IF one is shipping a young animal in the winter time, one should prepare the crate accordingly, with extra toweling for the animal to snuggle in and with light weight fabric duct taped over EVERY opening on the crate. Duct tape allows the cargo folks to inspect the crate easily. These fabric coverings prevent breezes from blowing in and causing the animal to become too cold. Appropriate shipping protocols include preparing the crate for the season of the year and making sure that the animal is going to be warm in winter and not too hot in the summer. A little common sense would go a long way in awareness of the animal's needs during the shipping process.
Nick Ryder Jan 27th 2011 3:30PM
I'm a retired Delta captain (and cat lover) and from everything I ever saw I can assure you in my personal experience, Delta has always done the best job possible to keep animals safe while in their care. Unfortunately, things happen sometimes. I question the wisdom of the pet owner shipping a hairless animal in the middle of the winter...and I question Delta's wisdom in accepting the cat for transport.