'QF killed my best friend' - overblown story

[Melburnian1]

I'm sure these exotic (non native) parrots made or make great pets but while it's sad that one died enroute on basically a 24 hour flight from MEL to LHR via DXB, this story is rather overblown:

No Cookies | Herald Sun

If the paywall defeats you, the heading that you can try typing into Google is 'Qantas accused of not taking responsibility for pet bird that died after flight.'

Some of us can think of examples where our society seems to care more about pets than it does about humans.

Wouldn't such pets be subject to quarantine upon arrival in the UK? There's also a risk of pets dying in such holding centres.

 

[Eija]

With the greatest of respect - you have no idea. From One who has imported 3 dogs(2 from Finland & 1 from Norway into Australia). The cost is phenomenal...let's just say F$'s LHR-DXB-MEL per dog! That's before we even start talking about purchase price nor Quarantine requirements costs here!! Of course the airline has been negligent - "barely alive with hypothermia” on arrival at LHR!!!

 

[Denali]

I'm sure these exotic (non native) parrots made or make great pets but while it's sad that one died enroute on basically a 24 hour flight from MEL to LHR via DXB, this story is rather overblown... .

My niece has a pet bird. coughatoo or galah, something that lives for many, many decades and to say she loves it is an understatement. She would be more upset about it being hurt or killed than the thousands spent in having it delivered safely to her destination, which I'm guessing what the contract was.

 

[love_the_life]

My brother and his wife took 50 greyhounds from Melbourne to the UK when they emigrated in 2003 but in their case they travelled with them on a SQ cargo plane and had built the travel boxes themselves to meet their own requirements. From memory about 50K to transport them. They had nothing but praise for the SQ handling; in SIN for a stopover the plane only just came to a stop when a large air-conditioning pipe was brought in to keep the animals cool. From the UK they then moved them to Ireland.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Sad story and I feel for her loss. Animals are at the mercy of human actions, and if we get it wrong, they pay the ultimate price.

What makes it worse is when nobody steps up and takes responsibility. For that reason alone - I hope she raises the cash required to take action.

 

[juddles]

Sad story and I feel for her loss. Animals are at the mercy of human actions, and if we get it wrong, they pay the ultimate price.

What makes it worse is when nobody steps up and takes responsibility. For that reason alone - I hope she raises the cash required to take action.

Trippin, I disagree.

I understand that she lost her pet and is not coping with the loss. But for her to want to raise money to "take down this multi billion dollar company" (her words) is just a sad example of people confronting their grief with distraction.

Wasting thousands of dollars on a legal rampage is, IMHO, not correct. The airlines already do an amazing job of moving pets around the planet - it appears this was an accident which can conceivably happen from time to time. The money she wants to raise would be far better used in supporting animal welfare organizations, etc, than being paid to lawyers in her grief-stricken madness.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Trippin, I disagree.

I understand that she lost her pet and is not coping with the loss. But for her to want to raise money to "take down this multi billion dollar company" (her words) is just a sad example of people confronting their grief with distraction.

Wasting thousands of dollars on a legal rampage is, IMHO, not correct. The airlines already do an amazing job of moving pets around the planet - it appears this was an accident which can conceivably happen from time to time. The money she wants to raise would be far better used in supporting animal welfare organizations, etc, than being paid to lawyers in her grief-stricken madness.

Look I agree with your sentiment. There's no way a few bucks will mean anything, nor solve her problem or fix it for future traveling souls.

We live in a world where nobody wants to take responsibility for fear of consequence. This woman most likely wants someone from the airline/skypets to give a damn enough to be sincere in whatever failures went wrong and be genuine with the communication. She clearly isn't receiving this, and therefore, the only way to make companies listen is to go after what they value most - cash. Deep down I highly doubt it's about the money for her as being reimbursed for costs or free flights isn't going to alleviate her pain.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Trippin, I disagree.

I understand that she lost her pet and is not coping with the loss. But for her to want to raise money to "take down this multi billion dollar company" (her words) is just a sad example of people confronting their grief with distraction.

Wasting thousands of dollars on a legal rampage is, IMHO, not correct. The airlines already do an amazing job of moving pets around the planet - it appears this was an accident which can conceivably happen from time to time. The money she wants to raise would be far better used in supporting animal welfare organizations, etc, than being paid to lawyers in her grief-stricken madness.

Many things might be considered 'accidents' but that doesn't mean there's no blame. I think it's an appalling response from the pet transport company. They admit something went wrong with the crate turning on its side. Well that means someone must be responsible for not securing the crate correctly. The transport company should refund the money and go after the appropriate person responsible for the handling and securing of the crate. Very difficult for the owner to do that, much easier for the pet handling company. Why be so blunt about it and seeming devoid of empathy or compassion? Totally unnecessary.

 

[bsb]

Poor girl is grieving BUT as humans, we have this bizarre need to cage and constrain animals to suit our needs. It's simply not normal for a bird to be stuck in the hold of a jet for 24 hours and flown across the world. Any more normal for them to be in an aviary or even more so, a small cage. It's our needs being met, certainly not the birds. Them's fighting words, I know (don't even start me on other pets), but having had birds until my late teenage years when I realised it was unnatural for them, I feel I can speak with some experience.

I do have empathy for the bird owner though.

 

[Melburnian1]

bsb, yes, birds belong in the air, much as I appreciate our wonderful, engaging native birds.

 

[Denali]

..... Any more normal for them to be in an aviary or even more so, a small cage. ....

I can only comment on my nieces bird and that thing has run of the house and is only caged, a very, very, large cage, while shes at work.

I dont get it, skeeves me out.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

This is an unfortunate, but sadly a semi-regular occurance whilst transporting pets on aircraft.

I remember a few years ago Australian based " Jetpets" left a French Bulldog in its cage on the Tarmac in SYD, in the middle of the day in the peak of summer for 3 hours.
The dog died whilst in transit over to Auckland due to heat exhaustion, the owner tried to lay blame on the Airline-Qantas , but the animals death was really caused to its mishandling by Jetpets prior to being loaded onboard.

For the owner of the parrot, I can feel her pain, but she will really need to investigate all the parties involved to identify where it all went wrong.

 

[love_the_life]

Wasn't there a recent case of a giant bunny deceasing on a flight from UK to US? Not sure how the compensation panned out on that.

 

[Danger]

A sad story, of course.

One thing that jumped out at me from the article was the very defensive words from Skypets. There also appears to be some sloppy reporting or some crossed wires where the Skypets rep says the company as a "statement from the vet at the (Heathrow) animal reception . . ." that it was "ready to fly". But it arrived at Heathrow; it wasn't being sent ("fly") from Heathrow. That's also at odds with the statement earlier in the article where the animal centre apparently said the bird was "in very poor condition".

And I doubt the young lady paid for a service that "guaranteed the safety" of the birds.

 

[trooper]

Poor girl is grieving BUT as humans, we have this bizarre need to cage and constrain animals to suit our needs. It's simply not normal for a bird to be stuck in the hold of a jet for 24 hours and flown across the world. Any more normal for them to be in an aviary or even more so, a small cage. It's our needs being met, certainly not the birds. Them's fighting words, I know (don't even start me on other pets), but having had birds until my late teenage years when I realised it was unnatural for them, I feel I can speak with some experience.

I do have empathy for the bird owner though.

This X 1000!!! Why do people feel the need to put these supposedly "beloved" animals through such ordeals??? Bird would still be alive if she hadn't tried to drag it halfway round the world. I suspect her anger is partly driven by GUILT...and so it should be.

 

[Melburnian1]

This X 1000!!! Why do people feel the need to put these supposedly "beloved" animals through such ordeals??? Bird would still be alive if she hadn't tried to drag it halfway round the world. I suspect her anger is partly driven by GUILT...and so it should be.

I am not an animal welfare expert but would it not be so that an exotic bird would be less able to withstand a change in its 'normal' conditions than say a domestic dog or cat?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This X 1000!!! Why do people feel the need to put these supposedly "beloved" animals through such ordeals??? Bird would still be alive if she hadn't tried to drag it halfway round the world. I suspect her anger is partly driven by GUILT...and so it should be.

The bird would still be alive if - allegedly - the shipping container had been properly secured.

The he ratioanle for wanting to drag a bird half way around the world is another issue, but it's not the reason why the bird supposedly died. That was potentially due to the negligence of the handlers.

Yes you sign a waiver that there are inherent risks, but that doesn't waive negligence. It assumes proper and careful transportation.