Snub-nosed breeds, such as French bulldogs, are at increased risk of dying while being transported. Photo / AP
Snub-nosed breeds, such as French bulldogs, are at increased risk of dying while being transported. Photo / AP
On July 26 a French bulldog puppy "Roger" was flying aboard the KL617 service from Amsterdam to Boston.
The lawyer of the family whose dog was being transported told TMZ that the animal was being shipped back to their home in the United States and had been unaccompanied. However, when the grandmother went to pick up the nine-month-old puppy from Boston Logan airport she was given tragic news.
A necropsy performed on the family pet revealed that the dog had died of respiratory failure and heat failure.
Heat exhaustion and dehydration were found to have contributed to the dog's death, as it was stored in the cargo hold of the plane.
The report which was shared by the family's lawyer Evan Oshan, had deemed that "limited panting in a stressful, hot or humid environment, combined with a lack of water, would have placed Roger at high risk for heat stroke."
At the time the family who owned the Central Asian sheepdog called Bear were having difficulties reclaiming the dog's body. The family had to wait over nine days for the return of the dog.
However, the airline said that this was due to quarantine rulings by the US Centre for Disease Control "to ensure there was no immediately obvious public health threat," and could not return the dog until then.
United Airlines has has the worst record for transporting animals.
A study by the US Department of Transportation, showed that half a million pets were transported into the US in the year 2016. Of these 500,000 animals transported there were 26 deaths and 22 injuries reported. This was reduced to 16 deaths in 2017 from 506,994 animals. Although this rate of less than 1 incident for every 10,000 animals transported seems high, there were factors that made for complications, particularly the breed of dog.
It was identified at the time that the breed of dog can have increased complications on the stress of air travel, in particular snub-nosed breeds of which Roger the French bulldog was one.
In 2018 Air New Zealand said it would no longer accept "brachycephalic (snub-nosed) breeds of dogs or cats" on flights with legs more than 5 hours in duration.
