Concerns aired as dog dies on Qantas flight
By KATINA VANGOPOULOS
A DOG booked in to fly from Darwin to Perth has died.
Another passenger, who was also transporting her dog on the same Qantas flight on Saturday, said that she was disappointed at the airline’s conduct.
‘‘Saturday was a particul- arly hot day and we had to drop off our dog two hours
before departure,’’ she said. ‘‘While we were boarding the plane I saw one of the hostesses call the lady off the plane to go and see her dog — it was obviously not
looking good.
‘‘I heard the owner say
that it was probably heat stress — and she came back on to the plane crying.’’
The passenger, who did not wish to be named, said
when she retrieved her dog in Perth she found out the ot- her woman’s pet had died.
‘‘There was a big s*** fight happening,’’ she said.
The woman said the two- hour waiting time to get on the plane might have con- tributed to the dog’s death.
‘‘I think it’s ridiculous ani- mals have to be dropped off so early,’’ she said.
‘‘They probably sit in a hot
tin shed before they are load- ed on to the plane,’’ she said.
‘‘They have to sit for so long and then endure the stress of a flight.’’
Qantas did not respond to requests for comment from the NT News yesterday.
Last January, Qantas came under fire for changing its restrictions on breeds al- lowed to fly.
American staffordshire
terriers became the sixth breed banned from travel- ling on Australian Air Ex- press, the Qantas-owned freight carrier used to trans- port animals on Qantas and QantasLink flights.
In September 2012, a croco- dile escaped from its cage on a Qantas flight from Bris- bane to Melbourne and was discovered roaming through the cargo hold.