WASHINGTON — New federal regulations are designed to make travel safer for high-flying cats and dogs.
Starting in January, airlines will have to file a report whenever a pet dies, is hurt or goes missing.
With no annual reports currently available, one group complied its own figures, which show more than 400 animals have been casualties since 2005. They include:
- A 2-year-old Labrador named Mocha who died of heat stroke on a Delta flight to Atlanta.
- A 6-year-old golden retriever named Rocket, who died in the hold on a United Airlines flight to San Diego.
- And a 7-year-old Siberian husky who landed in Seattle on Alaska Airlines with bloody paws from trying to dig out of her kennel.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said animal activist Mary Beth Melchior, who believes 95 percent of pet losses have gone unreported until now.
“The airlines don’t want to report it,’’ she said.
Melchior’s organization, called Where is Jack, compiled the data. The non-profit was inspired by a frisky Norwegian forest cat, Jack, who was lost in JFK Airport for 61 days in 2011 when he escaped before boarding an American flight.
He was found when he fell through the ceiling tiles of a Customs office. Deeply malnourished and injured, he died shortly afterward.
Jack’s heartbroken owner, Karen Pascoe, said her cat “made it 61 days, and that’s amazing.”
“Had American been a partner and taken some accountability, perhaps it could have worked out differently. He never left the terminal for God sakes.”