Written by Michelle Kretzer
It seems as if every other week there's another horror story about an animal who has died or gone missing during airline travel. The most recent one involves Xiaohwa, a frightened cat who bolted when an employee opened her crate at John F. Kennedy International Airport—she is still lost inside the building.
It's just not a good idea to entrust our beloved animals to a system that we barely trust with our shampoo and underwear.
Although some airlines do allow a limited number of small animals to ride inside the cabin, many still think that animals should be treated like baggage. The cargo hold of a plane is a loud, terrifying—and often deadly—place. Because it isn't climate-controlled, it can quickly become sweltering or freezing, putting animals at risk of dying from heatstroke or exposure.
So as the holiday season approaches, many animal guardians are opting to take the scenic route and drive to their destinations. Here are our top tips for traveling with animals to help make the trip smooth sailing:
Some people find that it's easier on animals if they're allowed to stay at home in the care of trusted family members, friends, or sitters. When your animal companions are staying at home, you will want to do the following:
Happy holidays to you and all your family members!
Written by PETA
© Anthony Aneese Totah Jr | Dreamstime.com
The last time that John and Julia Von Achen saw their beloved dog, J, alive, they were boarding a flight from Moscow to New York. When the Von Achens disembarked, they discovered that their dog had apparently frozen to death in the cargo hold during the 11-hour flight.
"He's part of our family. I'm heartbroken, devastated, destroyed," said John Von Achen Jr. "They killed our dog." Freezing aside (which can happen when temperature controls fail and external temperature at altitude can be -50 or worse), animals are in grave danger in plane cargo holds, but boxers, bulldogs, and pugs like J are at an especially high risk since their short muzzles make breathing difficult under any even slightly stressful or abnormal circumstances. Putting an animal in a cargo hold is often a death sentence, as they can turn into freezers in the air and, during delays on scorching summer days, into ovens on the ground, causing death from heat prostration. It happens all the time.
"It seems the airlines are not equipped and they're not really set up to handle pets, but they take the money anyway," Van Achen said, adding, "I'll never fly with a pet again."
J was far from the first dog to perish in a cargo hold, and he won't be the last. If you are planning to travel with your animals over the Thanksgiving holiday or at any time, please keep their feet safely on the ground and travel by car or, if they are small enough, fly them in the cabin with you.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
In the wake of the deaths of six bulldogs during flights last year, Delta Airlines has announced it will no longer ship English, French, or American bulldogs. Bulldogs, whose short snouts prevent them from cooling themselves effectively, are among the breeds most affected by the rigors of transport in unventilated cargo holds.
As my former Pennsylvania puppy mill bulldog, Bruce, snores beside me, I can't imagine how anyone would ever consider subjecting their dog to the terrors and dangers of a cargo hold. Bruce starts breathing hard when the temperature goes above sixty and he would hate being separated from his family and stuck in a cage in a dark, noisy place.
PETA strongly advises against ever shipping any animal in an airplane cargo hold, which can be extremely dangerous—even fatal. Most cargo compartments are kept unventilated in order to help prevent fires. Cargo holds generally have no heat or air conditioning, and they can reach extreme temperatures quickly. Sometimes cats and dogs escape from carriers that have been damaged in transit and become lost inside airplanes or airplane hangars.
Delta's off to a flying start by not allowing bulldogs on board. Even better is Pet Airways, whose only passengers are companion animals—and they all fly first-class.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
On Monday, we blogged about the risks posed to animals who are stowed away like luggage in the cargo holds of planes. On Tuesday, those warnings became a heartbreaking reality for seven puppies who died after being shipped from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Chicago in the hold of a commercial airline.
Shipping animals as if they were duffel bags or cosmetics cases is wrong for many reasons, one being that the cargo holds of airplanes are often not temperature-controlled. During the summer months, the temperature in this area of a plane can be deadly. Investigators are considering heatstroke as one possible cause of death for the puppies. It's believed that temperatures in Tulsa were already 86 degrees before 7 a.m., and the puppies were loaded into the cargo hold and left there as the flight was delayed on the tarmac for more than an hour. If this is the case, the puppies may have been baked alive in temperatures well above 100 degrees. A dog can succumb to heatstroke in just 15 minutes, and it's not a pleasant way to go.
We have set up a memorial page for the animals over on our True Friends Memorials site. Please take a minute to leave some kind words and consider donating to help other animals in need. And the next time you travel with your animal companions, only fly if they can fly in the cabin with you—or make it a road trip, and let Fido ride shotgun.
Written by Shawna Flavell
And, this week's 10% Wool "Tag and Release" winner is ... Beth Ann! Congratulations.
Don't forget to check out the archive of past 10% Wool comic strips here. Get more information on the series and the writer here, and learn how to get Jeff's other comic, DeFlocked, into your local paper here.
Security screeners at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport waved all three passengers through with their pet turtle in a carrying case. Gate officials welcomed them on their flight to Milwaukee. But as the plane pulled away from the gate and then turned back around, AirTran staff told the three young Helm sisters that their beloved turtle pal—a 2-inch baby red-eared slider named after Avatar princess Neytiri—was not allowed to fly in the cabin and that they had to dump her or get off the flight, literally.
Apparently the crew members even refused to watch the tiny animal for a few minutes to allow the girls' father time to dash back to the airport to pick her up. Instead, a staff member allegedly instructed the crying sisters to toss their tiny turtle into a trash can. The animal was initially presumed dead, but we have since learned that she narrowly escaped being crushed in a trash compactor after an airport employee took it upon herself to pluck the animal out of the trash and take her home. The Helm sisters and Neytiri are being reunited in Milwaukee today.
PETA wants to make sure that this never happens again. We have contacted AirTran CEO Robert Fornaro to ensure that the incident is investigated and that appropriate disciplinary action is taken. Please keep this horrific incident in mind the next time you choose an airline!
Written by Karin Bennett
Mark Twain may be famous for his love of steamboats and jumping frogs, but some people may not be aware that he was also staunchly opposed to experiments on animals. He once wrote the following in a letter to the London Anti-Vivisection Society:
"I believe I am not interested to know whether Vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. To know that the results are profitable to the race would not remove my hostility to it. The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further. It is so distinctly a matter of feeling with me, and is so strong and so deeply-rooted in my make and constitution, that I am sure I could not even see a vivisector vivisected with anything more than a sort of qualified satisfaction."
In honor of Twain's spirited defense of frightened animals who are caged and killed in laboratories, PETA has presented its first Mark Twain Ethical Science Award to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), a nonprofit organization that has worked with scientists from hundreds of companies to design testing programs that replace tests on animals. PETA has donated more than $500,000 over the past decade to fund IIVS' work to develop non-animal tests.
In one case, IIVS developed a rapid screening method that allowed a company to eliminate the use of 750 rabbits per year, while almost doubling the number of products that the company was able to test each year. IIVS also works closely with regulators such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on non-animal testing strategies. With partial funding from PETA U.K., IIVS was instrumental in obtaining European Union approval of a non-animal skin irritation test as well as the first stand-alone non-animal eye irritancy test for certain classes of chemicals.
We think that Mark Twain would have been proud to have his name on an award recognizing IIVS for saving thousands of unconsenting animals.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Thanks to the efforts of compassionate people like Keely and Pierce Brosnan—and the many PETA Files readers who voiced their concerns (We love you guys!)—an attempt to end the moratorium on commercial whaling was defeated during the meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco. This move is all the more impressive in the wake of news reports detailing the desperate attempts of Japanese representatives to manipulate the outcome, from applying backroom pressure to paying poor countries to vote on their side!
While this is good news, it's not yet time to pop those champagne corks. Whales still face huge threats, from spewing oil (and oil development) to miserable lives in captivity to—as any fan of Whale Wars knows—killer nations that subvert (or just ignore) the international ban on whaling. So while we have momentum on our side, let's keep the efforts going until all whales are free to live their natural lives! Thank you for your role in all this.
Written by Jeff Mackey
The ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu is in danger of being eroded by constant tourist traffic, which has prompted PETA to make it the second destination for our plus-size virtual "tourist." Hopefully, his message will help restore this awe-inspiring attraction, which is one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World.":
Vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than their meat- and dairy-consuming counterparts. By shrinking their waists, tourists would also reduce their monumental carbon footprints.
Machu Picchu visitors may soon be taking lighter steps—or will overweight tourists run the Incan landmark into the ground?
We've spoken out against BP, and suggested ways in which each one of us can help save the waterways and the environment. Now, by special request, we've created a new, fun, and in-your-face line of BP-related merchandise that will help fund PETA's work to save wildlife. Now we're giving away our BP T-shirt and coffee mug to two lucky winners (you can also buy the shirt for yourself and all your friends):
Ready to sport this compassionate gear? Tell us what you are doing to reduce your dependency on oil as well as what you would like to say to BP's big wigs if you could sit down and have coffee* with them. The two readers with the most inspiring comments will each score a T-shirt and a coffee mug. The contest ends on June 30, 2010, and we'll pick the winners on July 2, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms of conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
*Here's a little something to get you in the mood to tell us all about your imaginary coffee date with BP.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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