Student Says Airline Told Her To Flush Hamster Down Toilet
I don't know if you have ever had a beloved pet that you've had to have put down. It's a harrowing experience - I'm told, my dog's health is what I can only describe as admirably robust. From what I understand, you bring your poorly beast to the vet who'll sombrely rub a stethoscope, or some other implement, over its enfeebled body, before taking your family aside for a brief explanation about the harsh realities of life and death. You and your family - having deep down, presumed that it would come to this - briefly exchange consoling words before embracing the inevitable decision, that euthanasia is probably the best, most humane, course of action for all involved. The vet will allow you your prolonged and painful goodbyes with your pet and - now this is where most veterinarians and the American 'Spirit Airlines' differ - will then administer a hefty dose of sedative to make the passing of your animal as painfree as possible. What the vet will not do is take a leaf out of Spirit Airlines book detailing the most appropriate way to dispose of a beloved pet - a book which, by all accounts, is just a sheet of paper with 'flush the prick down the jacks' written on it.
Spirit Airlines' avant-garde approach to the euthanasia of pets was made painfully clear to one passenger, Belen Aldecosea, who was trying to fly home to South Florida on 21 November with Pebbles, her emotional support dwarf hamster. "Her what!?" I hear you ask; her emotional support dwarf hamster, keep up, this story does not get any easier. The 21-year-old student claimed that she had checked with the airline as to their policy regarding the transport of hamsters - emotionally supportive, dwarf or otherwise - and had been assured that Pebbles would be allowed to travel with her. However, when she arrived at the airport to catch her flight home, she was informed that Pebbles would not in fact be allowed to travel with her and that - with her attempts to rent a car to drive home instead proving futile - she would either have to release the hamster into the wild or flush it down the toilet in the airport. "... I'm sorry, or what?" Or flush it down the toilet in the airport, naturally.
Obviously, she chose the latter.
Speaking to the Miami Herald she described the traumatic experience, "She [Pebbles] was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet, I sat there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall."
Now, let's break this down a bit. Prior to last week, I had never heard of 'emotional support animals' then suddenly, two stories about them being denied entry to planes surface within the space of a week. Last week news broke about Dexter, an emotional support peacock, who was prohibited from flying on United Airlines. Thankfully, it appears that the gaudy fowl wasn't allowed onto the plane at all rather than being violently dragged from its seat after boarding - a policy they seem to reserve for humans. This begs the twin questions; why was this peacock not flushed down the toilet? Was it too big? And presuming it was; what is the largest animal that can be flushed down a toilet?
Well after a brief Google of this turned up few results - and almost certainly has had me added to some national security 'dangerous persons' database - I am going to have to hazard a guess and say that the size of the largest animal that could realistically be flushed down a toilet must lie somewhere between a dwarf hamster and a large peacock; perhaps a squirrel or small otter. What's more, given that Pebbles was evidently deemed small enough to fit around a u-bend by a staff member of Spirit Airlines, as alleged by Ms. Aldecosea, why ought they make her do the flushing herself? Surely if, as she says, this is the airline's presumed protocol in such situations they surely should have some sort of animal executioner on retainer who, when such a situation arises, will arrive at the airport to flush whichever animal needs to be crammed into that bowel.
This would seem particularly necessary given the fact that Ms. Aldecosea is someone who needed the services of an 'emotional support hamster' in the first place. What animal can possibly provide adequate emotional support to someone who has had to flush their previous emotional support animal down a toilet. Presumably it'd be something large enough to be unflushable yet that can provide an abundance of comfort, I'm thinking either a labrador or some specially trained seal?
However, Spirit Airlines have apparently denied that any member of their staff recommended that Ms. Aldecosea flush her pet. A spokesman for the airline said "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. It is incredibly disheartening to hear this guest reportedly decided to end her own pet's life."
Perhaps, Ms. Aldecosea can console herself with the thought that flushing pets into a sewage system is literally the premise to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It may provide some comfort to think that Pebbles may, due to exposure to some massive amount of radiation, have become some vast and deformed monster living in the sewers
H/T: The Guardian