ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE
Not too long ago, the loss, injury or death of a companion animal during air travel was buried in the airlines’ “mishandled baggage" report filed with the Department of Transportation (DoT)—if it was acknowledged at all. In 2000, after hearing about how airlines treat their animal passengers and the dangerous conditions to which animals are subjected during air travel, the 106th Congress told airlines to start filing separate reports for any incidents involving the loss, injury, or death of an animal.
AIRLINE ANIMAL INCIDENT REPORTS
Since May 2005, the U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) has required most U.S. airlines that operate scheduled passenger flights to file monthly reports on pets that died or were lost or injured during transport, pursuant to the requirements of section 710 of the 2000 Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (as subsequently codified at Title 49, Section 41721 of the United States Code and Title 14, Section 234.13 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and more recently in Title 14, Part 235). The DOT publishes redacted versions of these reports on its website. This paper provides links to those reports, organized by (1) the total number of reports filed by each carrier, (2) the reports filed at DOT on a month-by-month basis, and (3) the reports filed at DOT on a carrier-by-carrier basis.