April 2023 Airline Pet Travel Report

Hello Everyone,

This month we have 3 deaths and 1 loss to report.

On February 12, 2023, a Siberian Husky traveling on Alaska Airlines Flight 572 from Raleigh-Durham to Seattle was lost at the Raleigh-Durham Airport . The dog was able to chew through the zip ties reinforcing the kennel door, forcing the kennel door open, escaping and running loose on the ramp. The dog was recovered the day after and did not appear to have any injuries. Dog and owner flew the same day the dog was recovered and the kennel door was reinforced by drilling holes and adding more zip ties to secure the door shut.

On February 17, 2023, an 8-year old Abyssinian cat traveling on Alaska Airlines Flight 832 from Kauai, HI to The Noah Center via Air Cargo in Seattle, WA arrived deceased. Per the Necropsy results, the cat passed of natural causes.

On February 2, 2023 at Dallas Fort Worth Airport, a loose end of ratcheting strap securing a cat kennel to the ULD Dolly became entangled in the dolly wheels, crushing the kennel, allowing the cat, Stormi, to escape. Stormi attempted to jump to the next ULD Dolly but landed on the ground and was immediately struck by the dolly wheel and killed on impact. Investigation on this incident is ongoing and will be updated with corrective action steps once completed.

On February 28, 2023, twenty mini golden doodle puppies, contained in 10 kennels (2 per kennel) were traveling via American Airlines Cargo on Flight 1790 from Chicago, IL (ORD) to San Juan, PR (SJU) with a connection in Miami, FL (MIA). The 20 puppies traveled on all scheduled flights, were offloaded from the aircraft upon arrival at San Juan, PR (SJU) and taken to the Cargo Terminal to await recovery by the consignee. Notification of arrival to the consignee was completed at 16:36 AST, however the consignee did not arrive until 21:04 AST (4.5 hours after notification). It was during the delivery process that it was identified one of the mini golden doodle puppies – Rylee (who was in the same kennel with another mini golden doodle, Luna) was unresponsive. Rylee, the unresponsive puppy was removed from the kennel and immediately taken to a local veterinarian for assessment, where it was determined that the puppy was deceased. The Necropsy Diagnosis was Pulmonary Edema - Mitral valve endocardiosis.

Stay safe everyone and extra hugs go out to those we lost this month.