Treating animals like luggage should be illegal

Public outcry was swift and severe when a 10-month-old puppy named Kokito died in March, after a United Airlines flight attendant reportedly insisted that the dog’s guardian place his carrier in an overhead bin. Passengers heard Kokito’s muffled barks from inside the bin for two hours before he went silent. By the time the plane landed, he was unresponsive. A necropsy confirmed that he had suffocated to death.

In response to this and a spate of other deaths and mix-ups involving animals, United Airlines has announced new policies for animals on its flights. Among other measures, it will ban more than 20 flat-faced breeds, including French bulldogs — Kokito’s breed — from being transported in cargo holds. That sounds good, but is it enough?

{mosads}These measures may make for good PR, but they aren’t enough to protect other animals from experiencing terrifying, painful deaths on planes.

As long as any animals are allowed to be shipped like luggage, they will continue to die. It’s time for lawmakers to ban this dangerous and cruel practice entirely.

United’s policy focuses on brachycephalic breeds — those whose airways have been unnaturally shortened as a result of being bred for a “flat-faced” look. This deliberate distortion makes breathing difficult for these breeds even when they aren’t in a stressful, potentially oxygen-deprived situation. But they are far from the only animals that have suffered and died on flights.

Last year, a golden retriever named Jacob who was shipped in a cargo hold died after his trip from Michigan to Oregon was delayed for over 20 hours. A veterinarian determined that he had died of gastric torsion, which caused his stomach to flip over, cutting off its blood supply — a condition that is thought to be caused by several factors, including stress.

Also in 2017, a 3-foot Continental Giant rabbit named Simon died after a breeder reportedly shipped him in cargo on a flight from London to Chicago. According to Simon’s breeder, a veterinarian examined the rabbit three hours before the flight and declared him “fit as a fiddle.” The exact cause of Simon’s death may never be known, since the airline reportedly had him cremated without his owner’s permission before a necropsy could be performed.

After a flight during the winter of 2011 from Utah to Connecticut in what was supposed to be a climate-controlled cargo hold, an 11-week-old kitten named Snickers was found “icy cold” and unable to move her head or paws. She died shortly thereafter. Even though her guardian had paid extra for her to be unloaded from the plane quickly, she was allegedly left on board for 50 minutes after landing, when temperatures were only 10 degrees outside.

Cargo holds can quickly reach deadly temperature extremes during delays on the ground, and the animals inside can literally be cooked or frozen to death — both slow, agonizing ways to die. 

Hundreds of animals have died this way. Others have escaped after their carriers were damaged and have gone missing inside airplanes and hangars. Still others have bolted, never to be seen again, after airline employees let them out during layovers. 

A cargo hold is no place for any living being, yet airlines allow animals to be shipped as if they were beat-up old pieces of Samsonite. Those who should be animals’ protectors and advocates — their guardians — unwittingly hand them over, sending them down a dark conveyor belt to what may be their final destination.

Even if they survive the flight, being separated from their guardians and confined to a noisy, unfamiliar environment, in which the “ground” tilts and sometimes feels as if it’s suddenly dropping out from under them, is an extremely stressful experience.

A study published by the University of Illinois found that for dogs used in search-and-rescue missions, air travel is so unsettling that “[t]hey showed behavioral stress, their gut was completely turned upside down, [and] their bloodwork showed significant effects.”

If flying is that upsetting to dogs who presumably fly regularly and are somewhat accustomed to it, imagine how terrifying it must be for dogs or cats who are used to spending their days quietly napping on the couch.

Airlines stand to profit by shipping vulnerable living beings; they can’t be trusted to put animals’ welfare above their own vested interests. People who care about their animal companions should never allow them to be flown in a cargo hold — a dangerous choice that could leave them injured or DOA. Lawmakers must step up and ban this practice, before more animals suffer and die. No animal deserves a one-way ticket to a terrifying death.

Daphna Nachminovitch is the senior vice president of the Cruelty Investigations Department for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).