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

Fri Feb 9 17:40:58 UTC 2018

serious problem, well If somehow I had a hamster with me I wouldn't 
flush it down a toilet for G-d's sake. obviously if this is a legit 
story she has some issues and needs serious help.

I don't want to think about it any more, it's upsetting me.

Take care, guys.

Dan

On 2/9/2018 12:01 PM, Cindy Ray via NAGDU wrote:
> Oh, I am just appalled. I struggle with these stories on so many levels, but
> I believe the girl was told to flush the animal down the toilet. I also
> imagine that it was one of the most painful things she has ever done. I
> would still be distraught over it, and I think that the emotional support
> gig needs to be fixed somehow. It is so muddy. I just am baffled by the turn
> taking animals anywhere has come to. I can't even be articulate about it.
> Cindy Lou Ray
> cindyray at gmail.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ginger Kutsch via
> NAGDU
> Sent: Friday, February 9, 2018 9:33 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Ginger Kutsch <Ginger at ky2d.com>
> 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> NAGDU mailing list
> NAGDU at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NAGDU:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/cindyray%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> NAGDU mailing list
> NAGDU at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NAGDU:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/dcwein%40dcwein.cnc.net
>
>