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

[nellie at culodge.com]

This is so sad on so many levels!  This just can't be true.  Why didn't she
try and give it to a passenger who had just arrived, or someone at the
airport not getting on a plane?  In my opinion, if this animal was her
comfort animal, no one would then flush it down the toilet.  Also, why is
there no footage, pictures, witnesses, statement in writing etc.?

Crazy!!

Janell

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dan Weiner via
NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 9, 2018 10:02 AM
To: Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Dan Weiner <dcwein at dcwein.cnc.net>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Spirit Airlines: Student flushes emotional support
hamster down toilet

my god, this has to be made up, doesn't it?--ssad


Dan



On 2/9/2018 10:50 AM, Tracy Carcione via NAGDU wrote:
> 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-fl
> ushed-
> comfort-hamster-down-toilet-spirit-airlines-flap-has-replacement-roden
> t/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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