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It’s a nightmare situation for anybody with a pet: taking them on a visit with you, and dropping them.
Paula Rodriguez is at present dwelling that nightmare, after her canine, Maia, was misplaced by airport employees who have been bringing her to her Delta flight at Atlanta airport – the busiest on this planet.
Rodriguez was flying from her home within the Dominican Republic for a two-week trip in California together with her six-year-old canine, Maia, on August 18.
Flying Delta Air Lines with Maia within the cabin together with her, Rodriguez’s journey included a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, earlier than persevering with to San Francisco.
But on arrival at Atlanta at 6.55 p.m. Friday, Rodriguez says that border drive employees knowledgeable her that she “didn’t meet the requirements” of her vacationer visa – so that they canceled it, telling her that she’d need to return to home on the subsequent flight.
When they realized that wasn’t till the subsequent day, they stated she’d need to spend the evening in a detention middle – however that her canine couldn’t come together with her.
“They called a Delta agent, who took Maia from me,” Rodriguez instructed CNN.
“I began asking questions on the place she’d be spending the evening, and instructed him she’d been in a whole lot of misery on the flight. When we’d obtained there [to Atlanta] she’d puked with misery and had diarrhea.
“He told me not to worry, that she’d be taken to a facility with staff trained for that. That they’d give her food and water and take care of her. It wasn’t my wish, but I understood. There was nothing I could do, and I trusted him.”
Paula Rodriguez
Rodriguez rescued six-year-old Maia from the streets as a month-old puppy.
Rodriguez’s flight again to the Dominican Republic was scheduled for 10.20 a.m. the next day, and border employees instructed her that they’d decide her up from the detention middle one hour and 45 minutes earlier than her departure, to take her to the gate, the place her canine can be ready.
“I asked everyone – I told them I needed time to locate her, that she was sick and I wanted to clean her kennel, and they said, ‘Let’s go to the gate, she should be there,’” stated Rodriguez.
Passengers have been already boarding as they arrived. But Maia wasn’t there.
“The gate staff started making calls. A manager came and said they were looking for her, that she should be in the facility but they didn’t have time to look and I should get on a plane,” stated Rodriguez.
“I started panicking and said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t get on when you’re telling me you don’t know where my dog is.’”
They shifted her to a flight an hour later, leaving for Punta Cana, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away from Santo Domingo. Rodriguez was glad to change locations, and assumed that it was a easy mixup and Maia would make the subsequent flight.
But Maia didn’t present, and border brokers instructed Rodriguez that she couldn’t be within the US for greater than 24 hours with out a visa. She needed to go away on that flight to Punta Cana – with out the canine.
Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest on this planet.
Rodriguez says she had a panic assault on the three-hour flight to Punta Cana. She and Maia have barely spent minutes aside from one another since Rodriguez, who used to rescue road dogs and rehome them, discovered her as a month-old puppy and couldn’t bear to half together with her.
“Everyone who knows me knows what she means to me. I don’t go anywhere without her. She’s so well behaved that I take her to restaurants, literally everywhere. She’s my partner in everything,” she instructed CNN.
Upon touchdown at Punta Cana, she filed a report. Meanwhile, her mom went to Santo Domingo in case the canine had ended up there with out anybody realizing.
“I called Delta, Atlanta airport, even San Francisco. I filed every claim possible. I called all the shelters and veterinary surgeries I could in Atlanta. I was in agony for two days with no answer,” stated Rodriguez.
On the Monday, two days after the canine went lacking, she says she was referred to as by a Delta consultant in Santo Domingo.
“He said that she was being transported [to the plane] on the runway, and staff had opened her kennel, and she had got out of the car and escaped into the middle of the runway,” she instructed CNN.
“Planes were taking off and coming in. He said they chased her but she ran faster and faster and she escaped. That’s all I know.”
The following day, she was referred to as by one other Delta consultant, informing her that he’d be dealing with her case.
“I’ve called him several times a day but he has no updates,” she stated.
With her US visa canceled, Rodriguez isn’t allowed to fly again into the United States to seek for her canine. Instead, on August 24, six days after she final noticed Maia, Rodriguez’s mom was circulate out to Atlanta to signify her.
“They’re giving her a tour, and showing her the tapes, but she says there’s nothing – no leads,” stated Rodriguez.
“The thing is, that airport has more than 4,000 acres. My mom told me it’s scary dimensions – it’s definitely a possibility that she’s hiding in the airport, but she could be in a lot of places.”
Hartsfield-Jackson was ranked the world’s busiest airport earlier in August by aviation analytics agency OAG.
Maia is microchipped, and Rodriguez says that she and Delta have notified each animal shelter and veterinary surgeon within the county, and despatched them photographs of her – which is why she thinks Maia would possibly nonetheless be within the airport.
“If anyone had found her, they’d have taken her to a shelter and she’d have been scanned. My information is right there. The highest possibility is that she’s still there, hiding,” she stated.
A Delta spokesperson instructed CNN in a press release: “Delta teams have been working to locate and reunite this pet with the customer and we remain in touch with the customer to provide updates. Delta people feel deeply concerned for the customer and the dog and we’re committed to ongoing search efforts, working closely with the City of Atlanta Department of Aviation and other stakeholders.”
Meanwhile a spokesperson for the airport instructed CNN: “ATL’s operations teams conduct runway and airfield inspections throughout the day. At this time they have not encountered the dog, but will continue to remain vigilant should she appear. If she is seen, ATL’s staff will attempt to capture her and return her to the airline and her owner.” They didn’t reply when requested how the canine was allowed to flee within the first place.
In 2019, a canine escaped its cage whereas being transferred at Atlanta. Gale, an American Staffordshire Terrier, was discovered after a four day search. Pilots seen her on the runway, and a lure was laid with meals to lure her in.
For Rodriguez, the look ahead to information is painful.
“I’m in agony,” she stated. “I’ve been living a nightmare since Friday, knowing my baby is out there somewhere scared, or might be injured. All kinds of thoughts come into my head and I can’t do anything. Every minute feels like a day.”
