Photo: TMZ.com
Last week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) went after Air France-KLM as word got out that a dog had died while making an 11-hour flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, placed in the plane’s cargo hold.
The group urged the airline to start carrying pets in the cabin or not at all, to prevent tragedies like the most recent one. In response, Air France-KLM said it had launched an internal investigation and would only comment once it was concluded.
The family of the dog is now asking for their own, independent investigation, complete with access to all the data pertaining to the long transatlantic flight that also proved to be the last for the dog. The pup had been bought in Europe and was making his way to his new home, in LA, TMZ has learned. His name was Bear and he was a Central Asian Shepherd, and not a husky, as previously reported.
In a letter to the airline, the family’s attorney, Evan Oshan, is asking for more details regarding the way Bear was handled prior to take-off, including “surveillance footage of Bear and personnel files of anyone who handled him, incident reports connected to the flight, a flight manifest, cockpit recordings and KLM's protocol for stowing away animals.” He also wants an independent veterinary clinic to conduct a necropsy and an investigation into Bear’s death.
Despite the fact that the airline maintains all safety conditions were met when the animal was placed in the ventilated space in the cargo hold (as they will only carry animals smaller than 18 pounds in the cabin), a source has been telling the media that the animal wasn’t properly handled. As a consequence, he lost oxygen during the flight and died.
“We take the death of Bear very seriously and expect the protocol which you will follow will be consistent with the death of any passenger,” Oshan tells Air France-KLM. “Furthermore any attempt to veer from our requests will be viewed as obstruction of justice and dealt with as prescribed under the law.”
The group urged the airline to start carrying pets in the cabin or not at all, to prevent tragedies like the most recent one. In response, Air France-KLM said it had launched an internal investigation and would only comment once it was concluded.
The family of the dog is now asking for their own, independent investigation, complete with access to all the data pertaining to the long transatlantic flight that also proved to be the last for the dog. The pup had been bought in Europe and was making his way to his new home, in LA, TMZ has learned. His name was Bear and he was a Central Asian Shepherd, and not a husky, as previously reported.
In a letter to the airline, the family’s attorney, Evan Oshan, is asking for more details regarding the way Bear was handled prior to take-off, including “surveillance footage of Bear and personnel files of anyone who handled him, incident reports connected to the flight, a flight manifest, cockpit recordings and KLM's protocol for stowing away animals.” He also wants an independent veterinary clinic to conduct a necropsy and an investigation into Bear’s death.
Despite the fact that the airline maintains all safety conditions were met when the animal was placed in the ventilated space in the cargo hold (as they will only carry animals smaller than 18 pounds in the cabin), a source has been telling the media that the animal wasn’t properly handled. As a consequence, he lost oxygen during the flight and died.
“We take the death of Bear very seriously and expect the protocol which you will follow will be consistent with the death of any passenger,” Oshan tells Air France-KLM. “Furthermore any attempt to veer from our requests will be viewed as obstruction of justice and dealt with as prescribed under the law.”
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