Passenger says airline misplaced her canine after it escaped and ran off on the tarmac

A passenger on a Delta flight that had a layover in Atlanta earlier this month says her canine was misplaced by the airline’s workers after she was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The passenger, Paula Rodriguez, posted in a Facebook group known as “Atlanta Area Lost and Found Pets” with a plea for assist after she stated she misplaced her canine on Aug. 18.

“For 2 straight days I’ve not acquired any data in any way on her whereabouts, and simply immediately I acquired data from Delta that she escaped her kennel on the airport ramp and that airport workers was on the lookout for her,” Rodriguez wrote on Aug. 21, sharing a photograph of her canine, Maia.

Rodriguez requested Atlanta-area shelters to maintain a watch out for her canine, and requested members of the Facebook group for options. “I’m actually determined and each minute counts,” she stated.

The publish bought greater than 1,000 shares and the story gained nationwide consideration when Rodriguez stated on CNN this weekend that her canine was nonetheless lacking.

Rodriguez, who stated she was flying to San Francisco from the Dominican Republic with a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, claims her vacationer visa wasn’t accepted by border officers and she or he needed to spend the night time at a detention middle as she awaited the subsequent flight again home.

Her canine, she says, was not allowed to stick with her on the middle, and a Delta agent took the pet. She claims workers informed her the canine can be ready on the gate for her the subsequent day, however that wasn’t the case. “I requested everybody –I informed them I wanted time to find her, that she was sick and I wished to scrub her kennel, and so they stated, ‘Let’s go to the gate, she needs to be there,'” Rodriguez informed CNN.

She stated the gate workers tried to find Maia, and she or he even bought rebooked on the subsequent flight so she might wait till they discovered the canine –however that by no means occurred.

Rodriguez says she has “filed each declare potential” and acquired a name from a Delta consultant two days after Maia went lacking. “He stated that she was being transported (to the aircraft) on the runway, and workers had opened her kennel, and she or he had bought out of the automotive and escaped into the center of the runway,” she informed CNN.

In an electronic mail to CBS News, a Delta consultant confirmed the canine escaped her provider “whereas groups have been transporting the pet within the operations space exterior of terminal buildings,” however she would have in any other case been returned to Rodriguez earlier than her Customs and Border Protection-mandated flight.

The consultant confirmed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol doesn’t permit cabin pets –those that traveled on the aircraft in a provider below the seat– at their detention facility.

“Delta persons are heartbroken over what this buyer and her household are going by means of. Delta stays involved together with her as we proceed to maintain all eyes and ears open for her canine,” the consultant stated in an announcement.

Delta has been looking around-the-clock for the canine, even utilizing night-vision goggles, the consultant stated. Notices concerning the canine have been positioned within the airport and at native animal shelters, and communities have been requested to look out for the canine.

Rodriguez informed CNN her mom flew to Atlanta to characterize her because the seek for her canine continues. The Delta spokesperson stated the airline has been in fixed communication with Rodriguez and has given her mom “complimentary internet hosting,” together with entry to the airfield so she will help with search efforts.

The specifics of how and why the canine went lacking are nonetheless being investigated, Delta stated.