More than three years in the making, the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) recently published "final rule" requires commercial airlines to report when "any warm or cold blooded animal" kept as a pet in the United States is lost, hurt or dies while in the air carrier's charge.
The rule, while too narrowly defined for many animal advocates, is considered a victory for U.S. pet owners who previously had no way to measure an airline's animal safety record. The airline industry continues, with an exception or two, to transport live animals in cargo holds not designed for life support.
"This provision should increase the public's ability to gauge an airline's safety record when transporting animals, a barometer that's currently unavailable because animal incidents are merely included in the lost baggage reports," said Mimi Brody, The HSUS's Director of Federal Legislation.
"The present reporting system lacks any public accountability," Brody continued. "When the rule takes effect, the public will have a better opportunity to understand the extent of the risks in general and to compare the care afforded by specific airlines."
According to DOT, more than "two million pets and live animals are transported by air every year in the United States." It has been estimated that as many as 5,000 animals may be lost, injured or die annually due to extreme heat or cold temperatures, lack of oxygen, or rough handling while being transported in commercial airline cargo holds.
Those kind of statistics—not to mention the horror stories of people who had lost a pet in the course of a seemingly routine flight—helped push Congress to enact legislation in April 2000, requiring commercial airlines to report any incident involving animals lost, hurt or killed while in the carrier's charge. Congress gave the Secretary of Transportation the discretion to decide which animals would be covered.
In its initial rule, proposed in September 2002, DOT suggested covering any warm or cold blooded animal kept as a family pet in the United States or being transported for the purpose of being sold as a family pet in the United States. The HSUS and thousands of concerned individuals submitted comments to the agency encouraging a broader definition, to include all animals entrusted to the care of airlines, not just companion animals.
"We considered this a moral matter, since all animals deserve basic protection and humane treatment," said The HSUS's Brody. "But it was also a practical matter for consumers. After all, if an airline allows a bear going to a zoo to suffer heat stroke or a mouse destined for a research lab to die from poor ventilation, these same conditions could jeopardize a companion dog or cat on the next flight."
Conversely, the American Kennel Club and other industry groups pressed to have the rule cover only dogs and cats—and only on an anecdotal basis (when an owner or shipper has first reported the problem to the airline).
Paradoxically, the airline industry itself argued both that the proposed rule was unnecessary—loss, injury, or death of an animal hardly ever happens at an airline, it claimed—and that air carriers would stop accepting animals altogether to avoid the heavy burden of the new reporting requirement.
"We pointed out that industry was trying to have it both ways," Brody said. "Either animal suffering during air travel is the rare exception to the rule, in which case reporting it would pose a negligible burden. Or it goes on all the time, in which case it may be something of a hassle for airlines to have to report it, but all the more necessary from the public's perspective."
In the end, DOT adopted a narrow definition of "animals" subject to the reporting requirement. The final rule covers incidents involving "any warm or cold blooded animal which, at the time of transportation, is being kept as a pet in a family household in the United States."
Under the new rule, airlines will be required to submit the information to the government within 15 days of the end of the month an incident occurs; the information will be made public as part of DOT's monthly publication of the Air Travel Consumer Report. (The rule is still pending formal approval by the Office of Management and Budget, but it's expected to take effect in a few months.)
Addressing the airline industry's concerns, DOT concluded that "because the rule will only require reports to be filed when an incident occurs, and only with respect to the transportation of pets, the economic impact of this rule should be minimal, and will neither raise the cost of shipping animals by air nor affect the availability of shipping options."
"We're disappointed that DOT declined to require reporting of incidents involving animals other than established pets, such as those being transported to labs, zoos, circuses, or even pet stores," Brody said. "But given the pressure the agency was under to adopt a much narrower definition of 'animal,' we're pleased that DOT maintained coverage for the broad range of warm and cold blooded companion animals.
"And it's welcome news that DOT has finalized this rule to provide some accountability when a companion animal is lost, injured, or dies on a flight," Brody added. "We hope this will encourage airlines to give proper attention to the animals entrusted to their care, and will allow consumers to make more informed decisions about which airlines to choose."
Brody emphasized that, as a general rule, The HSUS still recommends that people not transport their companion animals in airplane cargo holds unless absolutely necessary, given the dangers of such travel. Hiring a petsitter or boarding your companion while you're on vacation is often a better idea than bringing the animal with you.
