PETA Statement: From Diversions to Deaths, It’s Dangerous to Fly Dogs

For Immediate Release:
March 20, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in response to reports that a dog was recently misrouted on a Delta Air Lines cargo flight that was supposed to have been between Virginia and Idaho:

If our dogs can’t fly with us in the cabin where we can see and reassure them, the only safe choices are to drive with them to our destination or leave them at home with a trusted friend or sitting service. Dogs aren’t baggage, and the confusion, noise, extreme temperatures, and improper pressurization of a cargo hold can be terrifying and even deadly for them. Even careful airlines like Delta can’t guarantee a safe and stress-free flight for a dog, and in just the last few weeks, one dog died in an overhead bin on a United Airlines flight and two others were misplaced by that airline, which demonstrates exactly why PETA has spent years calling on all airlines to join JetBlue and Southwest in banning live animals from the cargo holds of passenger planes.

According to reports, other recent victims of airline incidents include a rabbit who was found dead in a United cargo hold in 2017; a dog who was found dead upon arrival in a crate after a United flight in 2015; a dog who escaped from Delta’s custody at the Mexico City airport, another dog who died in a Delta cargo hold, and yet another who was sent on two wrong Delta flights, all in 2011; and seven puppies who died in an American Airlines cargo hold in 2010.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” and more information is available on PETA’s website.