Dog found 'covered in urine' after being left with baggage by Toronto airport for 21 hours

The dog, Winston, was rescued and brought back to Canada to be rehomed but was lost for 21 hours by the airline until found amidst lost luggage.

ADVERTISEMENT
Image
Joshua Young North Carolina
ADVERTISEMENT

A dog named Winston was left traumatized after Canadian airline Air Transat lost the pet for 21 hours in Toronto Pearson International Airport.

CP24 reports that the dog's rescuer Jena Butts said customs eventually found him in a "corner with lost bags" and he was "covered in urine." The woman said she "fell in love" with Winston and rescued the pup while she was in the Dominican Republic (DR) and brought him back to Canada to rehome him.

Butts, who had spent three months in DR's Puerto Plata, arrived at the Toronto Pearson International Airport around 1:30 am Saturday and waited for Winston and her own dog to come out of luggage. At 2 am her dog arrived but no Winston.

According to Yahoo! News, she asked the baggage people about the dog but they said there was nothing else to be found. Not knowing if Winston even made it to Canada from DR, Butts waited but was told around 3 am by customs' skeleton crew to go home and follow up later.

CTV News Toronto reports that the Greater Toronto Airport Authority cited "staffing shortages, flight delays and cancellations and temporary mechanical disruptions as some of the reasons for the 'challenges with baggage.'"

Butts spent the rest of her morning trying to contact the airline, Air Transat, to find out if Winston had even made it to Toronto or if he was still in Peurto Plata. She said, "This is a living creature," and that she "was very angry" and "didn’t understand how nobody could be at the airport to help me find my dog."

21 hours later a customs agent spotted the dog in a corner along with lost luggage. While the pup hadn't had a proper bathroom break an agent had given him water.

Butts never heard from Air Transat directly but instead from GTA dnata, a service provider for Air Transit at Pearson airport.

GTA dnata's CEO Antonio Alvarez wrote her, "While there were reasons for the service failure that left you wondering about the whereabouts of your treasured pet, we can only assure you that we will take the necessary steps to ensure no other pet owner has to experience a similar situation. You entrusted them with your precious cargo and regrettably, we let you down. As a dog owner, I can fully appreciate the anguish that our failure caused you and we would like to offer you a small token of compensation in the form of a gift card that you can use at your discretion."

The airline did tell CTV News that they were doing a full investigation and would offer Butts compensation.

She responded she isn't interested in compensation but instead wants the airline to do better when it comes to handling live animals.

"It’s hard to put my words together," Butts said, "There needs to be a procedure, better policies."

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign in to comment

Comments

Powered by StructureCMS™ Comments

Join and support independent free thinkers!

We’re independent and can’t be cancelled. The establishment media is increasingly dedicated to divisive cancel culture, corporate wokeism, and political correctness, all while covering up corruption from the corridors of power. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. When you support The Post Millennial, you support freedom of the press at a time when it's under direct attack. Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1.

Support The Post Millennial

Remind me next month

To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
ADVERTISEMENT
© 2024 The Post Millennial, Privacy Policy