Do Airlines Care For Our Pets?

Are airlines doing enough? Do they need impossible regulations such as was contemplated in Congress, as pushed by animal rights groups?

This is a fact sheet provided by the airlines - Thanks to Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture, Denver, CO, who published it in their Feb'00 Cage Bird News, Sue Clover, ed.

• Passengers receive acceptance criteria when booking their animals through verbal communication with reservation agents, by way of several industry brochures discussing animal shipment requirements.
• Air carriers and the Air Transport Assn. (ATA) provide pamphlets and other information to passengers to educate them on how to prepare their animals for shipment. (esp. for dogs and cats)
• Many airlines provide dedicated check-in areas for live animals.
• Labels and water dishes are available to passengers for their pet kennels so that customers' shipments will comply with USDA regulations.
• Airline personnel who come in contact with animals are trained and tested to a level of competence.
• Animals are held in heated and cooled facilities prior to departure.
• Animals are not put on moveable belts; they are hand-carried from ticket counters to baggage make-up area.
• Airline personnel ensure the health and comfort of animals during periodic observations.
• Pets and live animals are the last items loaded onto an aircraft and the first to be off-loaded.
• All animals placed on board an aircraft are included on the flight crew's weight manifest. This info indicates compartment location and number of animals. Notification permits appropriate crew response to gate or runway hold and compartment ventilation settings when applicable.
• There are different ventilation packages on aircraft used for longer haul segments to fulfill the airflow needs of animals. With regard to short haul segments the FAA/USDA Hanneman Study "Environmental Conditions in the Class 'D' Cargo Compartment" concluded that "the data collected in this study indicates that environmental conditions in the class 'D' cargo compartment are normally quite tolerable for animals."
• All unusual incidents, injuries and/or deaths while in airlines' care are reported to the management of the airline.
• When advised by such as AKC or the American Dog Owners Association, the Air Transport Association provides "Live Animal Alerts to its member carriers alerting them to the fact that there is World Class or large dog show to be held in (location) in (Month/days).
• The Air Transport Assn. in concert with the American Veterinary Medical Assn. has championed not sedating pet animals for air transportation unless a licensed veterinarian specifically recommends sedation for a particular animal. The ATA is awaiting the results of a study on this
  subject it sponsored and funded in 1998/99.
• When there is a death or injury of an animal, the customer files a claim with the airline. A survey of pet claims filed by customers with U.S. passenger airlines (ATA member carriers) during the period October 1998 through September 1999 produced a total of 30 claims filed. Since the Aviation Reauthorization Bill Under provisions of the recently passed FAA Reauthorization Bill (minus 24-hour notification of shipments and retrofitting compartments of aircraft), and pending details in regulations, airlines must:
• submit monthly reports on animal related incidents rather than annual as in the past.
• give additional training to baggage handlers as it regards proper care and handling of live shipments of animals. Some airlines have canceled shipments anyway. Ask others how their shipments went.

---- The future of pet/animal air shipments depends on the results as evaluated and stressed by users and humane groups.

Government & Birds is a service of Bird Clubs of America to Alliance Clubs, and others, this to encourage the thinking process. Designed and edited by Dick Ivy, educ. dir., (757) 898-5090. Publication and mailing is underwritten in part by the Southern Maryland Cage Bird Club, Upper Marlboro. It may be republished, with total credits thereon.