**WARNING** This post contains unfortunately tragic and potentially upsetting subject matter.

My partner and I own and operate a small cattery in the midwest, specializing in the breeding of show quality sphynx​, bambino, and dwelf kittens. Last month, a few weeks before Christmas, we were excitedly arranging to provide a kitten for a loving family in the New England area. The family had three young children, and this adoption was the majority of the Christmas they would be receiving. They had been waiting over 6 weeks for her to be old enough to be fully weaned and ready to travel. On December 2nd, after providing the less-than-friendly Delta staff with the proper health papers and nestling the kitten into her airline-approved cat carrier (complete with food and water dishes), we eagerly awaited the pics of excitement and joy that always come after our new families greet their little hairless lovely. However, the contact that we received was the exact opposite of that.

The mother, and her three children, arrived to pick up their kitten; only to be handed a crate containing a frozen kitten. That's right. This poor kitten had clearly not once been checked on for the duration of her travel. Not only was the kitten dead and frozen, but her food, water, and litter had been spilled out into the crate, providing further proof of Delta's mishandling during her transportation from Kansas City to Philadelphia. Who knows what else she was forced to endure along her flight, which included a 2 hour layover in Atlanta. It wasn't until yesterday, over seven weeks after "the incident" Delta finally provided us with an "inconclusive" report, which they say remits them from any responsibility.

The final report says they feel they "fulfilled their part of the obligation by delivering the kitten", as though there was no obligation that the kitten still be breathing upon arrival, or that they be obligated to not hand that dead cat to a family of grade school children. Aside from the trauma of losing a beautiful pet that would have been cherished by the family for years, these young children weren't even sheltered from the horror of finding their sweet girl in such a tragic state. The airline didn't appear to have knowledge of the gravity of the situation until the family was standing there, forced to discover for themselves that they had been given a dead animal.

We have shipped kittens all across the country and never had any issues, however the extent of the trauma and tragedy surrounding this one is too much not to speak out about. Nor are we alone alone in these types of experiences. Upon further research, we have learned that this is not an uncommon happening with Delta: You can see a 2012 Gawker article detailing the situation. While the article states that less than 1/2 of 1% of transported animals are injured or harmed, over half of the ones that are, are on Delta flights (nearly four times more often than the second highest airline). We also were told by a dear friend, and fellow sphynx breeder in Arizona, who shipped a kitten via Delta, only to have that airline-approved crate arrive smashed and broken. Thank God her kitten did not suffer the same fate as ours, but the pure lack of responsibility by Delta employees is too much!

A claim was submitted with Delta for this matter, in which they responded with an initial willingness to pay $1.50 for the outcome. You read that right! "Fifty cents per pound of cargo" for the loss of this sweet girl. Once the autopsy showed inconclusive results, they provided a "good will" offer of $500, which barely covers the shipping we paid, let alone the money we had to refund the poor family. And while no amount of money can fully resolve the loss and heartbreak caused by an incident like this, a company that (according to a 2012 Bloomberg article) has over $1 BILLION dollars in annual revenue, taking responsibility for the well-being of their passengers--human and animal alike--would be a given. But apparently it isn't...

We know that you have a choice when you fly, and we highly encourage you...do not fly Delta, and certainly do not send your pets with them!

Please share this story with all your animal loving friends and family. As long as this airline is able to stay out of the spotlight on this issue, they will be allowed to continue mishandling and failing to take care of beloved members of people's families.