Since Tuesday, November 19, a young 29-year-old Czech tourist has been making calls on social networks to find her dog Amalka, who escaped from the hold when her plane landed at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. The Air France company assures that “the scale of the research system” is unprecedented.
For 7 days, Misa has tirelessly observed the ballet of planes departing and arriving from Roissy Charles de Gaulle. His gaze also does not detach himself from the tarmac and the 3,257 hectares of the Paris airport, in the sole hope of seeing a black silhouette on four legs, barking and responding to the name Amalka. But every hour that has passed since November 19 – the day when this black-coated dog escaped running from the hold of the Air France plane coming from Vienna in which she was, all because of a cage “badly closed from the start” – her mistress’s concern grew.
Especially since Amalka is much more than a simple dog for this 29-year-old Czech tourist. “Amalka is my emotional support animal, she is central to my therapy”explains the young woman to Liberationwhich adds suffering attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “Without her, I cannot contain my emotion. It's like I'm dying when I don't have him near me. I have panic attacks all the time, but I don't have him with me to calm me down.” Míša says, her voice trembling through the receiver. She confirms that she does not want to leave the place before having found her dog.
“Exceptional” means put in place, assures Air France
So, in order to find the animal seen several times on the site since its escape, without being able to capture it, significant resources were deployed. Air France, in charge of coordinating the research, confirms having immediately set up a “action plan across the entire Paris CDG platform. So, beyond “the distribution to all staff of a wanted notice with a photo of the animal and information allowing it to be identified”, “an exceptional system has been deployed with the use by the Air Transport Gendarmerie (GTA) of a drone to locate the animal, requiring the closure of the southern runways of Paris Charles de Gaulle for the duration of the intervention.
The airline confirms with Liberation what “all efforts are being made by Air France, which notably mobilized seconded personnel and volunteers, Paris Aéroport and the air transport police to find the animal.” Misa was also allowed on several occasions to go to the slopes and leave food in the corners where her dog was most often spotted. In particular, she was able to approach it on Sunday afternoon, but without being able to capture it. “She was so disoriented and stressed that I don’t think she even recognized me,” regrets the young woman.
Since “everything is done to return the animal to its owner as quickly as possible”according to the airport authorities, a new search operation will be organized this Tuesday from 2 p.m. on the Roissy tarmac. According to Air France, it will be “of exceptional magnitude”. Around ten company employees, members of the association Cats in the Air, will be mobilized alongside State services and other Paris airport employees. Drones will also fly over the area.
“Air France delayed too long”
But according to Misa, who was initially supposed to take a flight from Paris to join Dallas and her boyfriend, Air France would have “too late to deploy means to find Amalka”. And the young woman deplores: “They really started looking for her from the moment the media picked up on the story and it started going viral, starting on Saturday. But for five days, they did absolutely nothing.”
Amalka's mistress asserts that she will wear “definitely complaint” against the company,because if the hunts had been organized from the first day, we would have been able to find my dog directly.” For its part, Air France defends itself by ensuring “attending since day one” the young woman, while adding taking full charge “his stay in Paris CDG during the research”. A secondary aspect for the young Czech tourist obsessed with a single thought: finding her pet.
