Dogs died On Airline Flights

A pair of things amazed me in the just-released AP/USA Travel Department of Transportation (DOT) tell stating that about 119 dogs have died on airplanes since May 2005, with an additional 87 injured or lost during that time.

I was amazed that the DOT only required reporting the death of dogs in transit since 2005. Did dog deaths not matter much? What took them so long?

And candidly, I was also surprised by a few of the callous comments made on an MSNBC web page by readers. One asked if there were “any volunteers to ship your small children in the cargo hold of an airplane?”


It is not funny.

“Why we have to put up with crying babies but we couldn’t have our little dogs that don’t bother anyone on our laps. that’s stupid!!”, Another asked
That babies and dogs are more alike than not, or that dogs are more important than babies? What’s the point?

The airlines are apparently not the villains in the case of the deaths. Most of the dogs that died were short-muzzled breeds. English Bulldogs accounted for the highest number of deaths, 24; Pugs accounted for 10 of the deaths, with Golden Retrievers and Labradors making up the rest.

Adam Goldfarb told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that similar dogs and Bulldogs top the list because their short snouts and reduced nasal areas, typical of the breed, minimize the dog’s ability to cool itself, through breathing.

Add that to the stress, heat, noise and unfamiliar surroundings, and pet lovers must ask if it’s worth it to transport a dog, any dog, by plane.

All the pets that died were being transported in the cargo holds of planes, leading some airlines, notably Delta, to refuse to fly short-snouted breeds when the temperature reaches 74 degrees, and 84 degrees for all other kinds of dogs that already seems extreme.

Seemingly there’s a procedure that clips the tissues and muscles of the nasal passage allowing the dog to breathe more easily.

Seller told an Atlanta Journal Travel reporter that they’ve already lost about eight Bulldogs, but regarding Uga’s air travel, “it’s just business with us,” Seller says. Uga, he says, flies in the small house or air conditioned hold of the university’s private plane.

In my opinion, Someone needs to design an airplane with a steerage deck where pets, really large people and mothers with infants could travel together with the cargo and checked baggage. It would lack amenities, of course, but it would be air conditioned and deeply discounted and not much more life-threatening than coach.


Copyright 2010 by Lucy ,a beautiful girl who works at the fruit shop ,likes swimming ,shopping online and has a coach outlet store on the Internet.