Thank you for standing up for hermit crabs. Now, please join me in taking action for another wild animal in the pet trade: cockatoos, like my family's rescued bird, who died flying cargo. Read his story & then sign my petition urging airlines to protect parrots and other animals today.
As my parents planned their big move to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2014, Lilah (so-named because of being mistaken for a female when he was young) was coming with them. My mom plotted out the magnificent habitat she’d build for him in paradise, where he could soak in the sunlight, watch the flittering yellow finches, and eat exotic tropical fruits for decades to come.
But Lilah never made it there. He died after suffering from a seizure in her lap after flying cargo, due to a series of mistakes and negligence in his transport.
Flying animals in cargo is always risky. Every year, animal companions die. In 2018, a report revealed that there had been 85 animal deaths in the last 3 years on flights in the US, with nearly half occurring on United Airlines.
As for Hawaii, the state requires that all animals coming into the islands be taken immediately to the quarantine holding facility in Honolulu for inspection--but it doesn't prescribe how these animals must enter, which is up to the individual airlines. While many of them will allow companions to fly in-cabin between islands, only a couple allow this for flights from the mainland to the state, leaving thousands of cherished companions relegated to the cargo hold. Or, even worse, they're put onto a cargo-only airline that deals mostly with inanimate shipments, leaving actual live animals with very little to no care or oversight.
Why? Because the logistics of ensuring that animals flying in-cabin make it over to the quarantine hold facility for inspection would take time. And time is money.
It's been over five years, but it's time for Lilah's story to become more than a black cloud over my family. It's time for me to share it with the world and help other dogs, cats, and birds from suffering the same fate.
It's time for the major airlines from the mainland U.S. to the Hawaiian Islands to apply, at a bare minimum, the same rules they use for flights within the lower 48 states--which allow small animals in carriers to stay in the cabin with their families.
And for animals who are only given the option to travel in cargo either into or between the islands, these carriers must implement rigid standards for animal companions, including constant tracking of animals' whereabouts, hourly monitoring in holding facilities, and provision of water at regular intervals.
Please join me in calling on these airlines to protect our beloved animals who are entrusted into their care by signing my petition today.