| I watched that awful segment last night on Connie Chung's show about
the puppie/kitten mills out in the midwest, and how those poor babies
are treated on the rough road to where ever they are ultimately shipped
to. They are transported in the dead of night to different
destinations, made to wait for hours in the holding areas at airports
and jammed into the cargo areas of airplanes. And I mean jammed,
whole piles of carriers filled with wimpering animals. It was awful!
Many of them succumb to disease, etc. It's sad. I'm not placing
any blame on the airlines here, though. The base note just reminded
me of the show. I'm sure the airlines must do a generally good job,
at least I hope so. However, I think the poor puppy/kitten mill
animals don't exactly get the best treatment. It's amazing that those
places are considered to be operating within the law and can go on.
Denise
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| I have seen several segments on puppy mills lately. Seems odd that
there were 25 puppies on the same flight unless they were headed
for a pet store or wholesaler. My guess is that they were not in
individual carriers, but probably overcrowded to boot. That would
make it even more dangerous for an animal.
When I went to Oklahoma with my cats last year, we had what would
have been a layover in Dallas had I not found a flight to SFO instead
of my previous destination, San Jose. When I discovered the flight
to San Francisco and asked for my cats to be transfered to that
flight, the ticket agent had to call the United Kennel and have
them taken over to the SFO flight. She told me that as soon as
they find out there will be a delay, any animals on board are removed
to an air conditioned kennel to be held until the flight is ready
to take off. Maybe that was just at Dallas airport though. This
happened in the middle of the night so the temp wasn't really a
consideration for us. I had one cat in the cabin with me, and two
others in the cargo. We all made the flight to SFO without any
problems.
I don't fly that often, but when I do, I try to get non-stop flights
and carry my cats on board. When shipping, I try for non-stop with
counter to counter service. There is always a risk, but in 5 years
of breeding, I have not had a problem yet. Let's hope that none
of us ever has this tragedy happen to them.
Jo
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