Bear, a five-month-old pure-bread central Asian shepherd, was being sent as a gift to a Pasadena family from friends in Greece.
“We were waiting for months for that puppy - to give him some love,” Andarnik Avetisian told ABC News.
But Bear would never have the chance to savor the love of his new family. When the cargo hold of the KLM flight from Athens to LAX was opened on March 19, Bear was found dead in his transport crate.
Devastated, the Avetisians wanted to know what happened. The cargo department at KLM claims to have been in touch with the family but reportedly has not allowed the family to claim the dog’s body.
In response, the family has retained the services of Evan Oshan, the lawyer who worked on the case of the French bulldog who died in a United Airlines overhead storage bin last year after flight crew pressured the family to stow her there. Avetisian and Oshan were stonewalled when the pair showed up at KLM last Thursday demanding answers.
Avetisian told TMZ that his biggest priority was to learn about Bear. He is also considering getting another dog from the same family in Greece, “Maybe his brother.”
We still don’t know how Bear lost his life. But Avetisian’s desire to get a dog from the same far-far-flung litter begs the question: should pets be transported in the cargo hold of a plane, especially on overseas flights? What’s the alternative?
Rescue Legacy explored the safety issues of pets traveling in cargo holds in The plane Truth About Flying With Fluffy Or Fido (10/22/15). As we learned, pet mortality rates under these circumstances weren’t statistically significant. However, the data provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation in Dr. Stanley Coren’s study did not include animals transported for commercial purposes (including gifts, as was the case with Bear). Stats are of no comfort if you happen to be the unlucky pet - or the bereaved family.
Many passengers in the economy section of commercial flights complain of cramped quarters and inadequate ventilation. Imagine traveling in a dark, more-or-less climate-controlled compartment, the turbines’ unrelenting, 100-decibel whir swarming your ears for half a day. You don’t understand what turbulence is, but you are jostled about in your tiny carrier with each ripple of the mercurial jet stream. Your little heart gallops at these unseen forces and your lungs expand and contract like a frenzied accordion. If you are brachycephalic (have a smushed face), it’s harder to get air in and let CO2 out. Because you have no concept of time, you have no idea when (or even if) this blind and deafening tumult will end.
“Safe?” Perhaps. But not exactly a soothing ride. Nor one necessarily easily overcome once the cargo hatch cracks open and the light streams in.
For rescue dogs airlifted en masse from remote areas, a cargo hold may be the only practical choice. But if Avetisian has his heart set on Bear’s “brother” to fill the family gap, perhaps he should fly to Greece and - by whatever means necessary - bring Bear’s brother back himself. In the cabin.
Better yet, he could adopt any one of the thousands of abused and/or abandoned and perfectly lovable dogs in his local shelters who reach new heights simply by being saved.