[NAGDU] Spirit Airlines: Student flushes emotional support hamster down toilet

Cindy Ray cindyray at gmail.com
Fri Feb 9 17:05:26 UTC 2018


I agree with you in part, Tracy, but think about it. She was frightened over
a growth, she's been stuck in this airport all day, she now has a flight
where she has definitely been told she can't take it, she chooses between
leaving it outside (which I might have done anyway) and flushing it. I think
the young ggirl was in a situation where she just had no idea what to do. I
am sure that she, like you, has a lot of regret over it even now. Of course
you could be right, but I'm not sure I would want to write someone off as
"screwed up" when she had been going through a raft of difficult things. Of
course, if she had read their website she might have known without doubt
that the animal couldn't go on board.
Cindy Lou Ray
Cindyray at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 9, 2018 9:50 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Spirit Airlines: Student flushes emotional support
hamster down toilet

I saw this yesterday.  I think either this person is making this up, or
she's seriously screwed up.  Killing your pet, the creature you say you need
to comfort you, because you can't take it on the plane, or because someone
said you should?  Really?  Ugh.
Tracy


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ginger Kutsch via
NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2018 10:33 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Ginger Kutsch
Subject: [NAGDU] Spirit Airlines: Student flushes emotional support hamster
down toilet

Student who says she flushed hamster down toilet in Spirit Airlines flap has
a replacement rodent, lawyer says

By Christal Hayes, USA TODAY February 8, 2018 

Source:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/02/08/student-who-says-she-flushed-
comfort-hamster-down-toilet-spirit-airlines-flap-has-replacement-rodent/3200
62002/

 

The lawyer for a student who says Spirit Airlines told her to flush her
emotional-support hamster down the toilet says she's still distraught over
the incident but now has a replacement rodent for comfort.

 

Belen Aldecosea's account of what happened after she checked into her
November flight from Baltimore to South Florida - which has gone viral on
social media - comes as airlines have been struggling with policies
regarding comfort animals onboard flights.

 

Aldecosea's attorney, Adam Goodman, acknowledges there isn't audio or video
proof showing a Spirit employee suggesting she flush her hamster, but he
believes his client.  

 

"It's hard, but you really have to look at the circumstances because this
whole thing only makes sense with someone telling her to (flush the
animal)," Goodman told USA TODAY. "...This is a situation where there
weren't body cameras or anything." 

 

It all started in November when Aldecosea, 21, a Texas State University
student living in Philadelphia at the time, booked a flight from
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to her home in
South Florida.

 

Belen Aldecosea says a Spirit Airlines employee suggested she flush her
emotional-support hamster named Pebbles down the toilet because she couldn't
bring it on her flight, her attorney Adam Goodman said. 

 

She was traveling to Fort Lauderdale to have a large growth removed from her
neck - which was one of the reasons she got Pebbles the hamster to begin
with. 

 

The animal helped comfort her before she knew the growth was benign,
especially since she didn't know many people in Philadelphia, Goodman said. 

 

She called Spirit ahead of time to ask whether Pebbles could accompany her
on the flight, Goodman said. The airline said traveling with Pebbles was
fine, but when Aldecosea got to the airport, that changed.

 

She checked in with the airline, bringing along paperwork that proved the
rodent was an emotional-support animal. One employee remarked how cute
Pebbles was, Goodman said. 

 

As Aldecosea walked to security, a second employee told her the animal
wasn't allowed onboard. 

 

The airline changed her 10 a.m. flight to a later one at 7 p.m. to give
Aldecosea time to make arrangements for the animal, Spirit spokesman Derek
Dombrowski told USA TODAY. 

 

Aldecosea told the Miami Herald she was hours from friends who could help,
wasn't able to rent a car and taking a Greyhound bus would take days. 

 

A Spirit employee, she told the newspaper, suggested she let Pebbles go
outside or flush her down the toilet. Aldecosea thought it would be inhumane
to let the animal freeze outside and decided to flush her in an airport
toilet, she told the Herald. 

 

"She was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the
toilet," Aldecosea told the newspaper. "I was emotional. I was crying. I sat
there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall."

 

Spirit acknowledged that an employee did incorrectly tell Aldecosea that her
hamster could accompany her but vehemently denies one of its employees told
her to kill the animal. 

 

"After researching this incident, we can say confidently that at no point
did any of our agents suggest this guest (or any other for that matter)
should flush or otherwise injure an animal," Dombrowski said. "It is
incredibly disheartening to hear this guest reportedly decided to end her
own pet's life."

 

The airline outlines its policy online, including that it does not allow
snakes, other reptiles, rodents, ferrets or spiders.

 

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said someone should be
held accountable in the animal's death. 

 

"One phone call could have saved this animal, or some kind person at the
airport could have helped," said Daphna Nachminovitch, senior vice president
of the animal rights organization. "Flushing a living being down a toilet is
not only cruel but also illegal, and both the person who killed this animal
and Spirit Airlines - if an employee did, in fact, advise the woman to drown
the hamster - should be charged. This must have been a horrific, terrifying
death."

 

No one reported the incident at the time, Maryland Transportation Authority
Police Lt. Kevin Ayd said, adding that media reports were the first
authorities learned of it. 

 

Goodman said this obviously wasn't what Aldecosea wanted to do, but having
adults tell her it was OK compounded the situation. 

 

"This was a highly stressful situation and people react in a lot of
different ways," he said. "She's only 21 years old, a kid still."

 

He said she got a replacement hamster since the incident but is still upset.


 

"She's distraught," Goodman said. "Imagine anyone in that situation that has
to make a choice like that. It was a horrible situation, and she's still
distraught."

 

He said they are examining whether to file a lawsuit against the airline. 

 

"A hamster is the most innocuous animal. It's confined to a cage," Goodman
said. "No one would have probably even known it was there."

 

Emotional-support animals - and what rights passengers have to bring them on
planes - have been a nagging issue for airlines. In recent weeks, both Delta
and United airlines revised their policies about such animals and adopted
stricter rules and requirements.

 

United's update coincided with an incident Jan. 28 when the carrier refused
to accept a peacock named Dexter aboard a flight from Newark to Los Angeles.
The peacock was rejected under the airline's previous policy for health and
safety reasons.               

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