Since Tuesday, November 19, a Czech tourist has been looking for Amalka, her little dog who escaped from the hold when her plane landed at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. An incident which raises questions about the conditions of transport of animals. Five or six of them disappear every year.
Tuesday November 19, Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle tarmac. Flight AF1139, operated by Air France, lands on the tarmac. As passengers leave their seats and return to the airport, airline technicians are busy collecting hold baggage. But when the device's hatch was opened, Amalka, a little black-coated dog aged 2, suddenly appeared between the suitcases. She rushes onto the track, and manages to escape the hands of the technicians.
For seven days, the animal has not been found, despite the means mobilized to find it by the airline. A “exceptional device” which results in particular in regular searches on the tarmac and the use of a drone to locate the animal. His mistress, Misa, also roams the airport night and day looking for him. But beyond the concern, the young woman also expresses her anger against Air France and the transport conditions of Amalka. According to her, her dog's cage would have been “poorly closed from the start”which would have resulted in its opening during the hard landing. Why are animals placed in the hold? Does this pose any risks? What alternatives are offered by certain associations? Liberation takes stock.
Hold or cabin: how is the air transport of pets organized?
Two conditions determine where your pet will travel by air. First, it comes to weight. For the animal to be placed in the cabin – as far as the Air France/KLM group is concerned – it must weigh less than 8 kilos, bag or cage included, and must not measure more than 115 cm in volume. However, the weight and size limits of the cage vary between airlines.
“Beyond its measurements, the animal will be sent directly to the hold”explains Manuela Vidal, president of the Cats in the Air association, an association ensuring the defense of animals in Paris airports. “And when an animal travels in the hold, it must be in a regulated fiberglass transport box, with a double security closure,” continues the airline retiree. The only exception: guide dogs or assistance dogs for passengers with sensory or physical disabilities. The latter have the possibility of traveling for free in the cabin alongside their master, regardless of weight and size, details the Paris airports website. However, Emotional support or service animals, as is the case for Amalka, do not fall into this category.
Another determining element: the destination. Some countries in fact prohibit all transport of animals in the cabin, as does, for example, the Thai airline Thai Airways.
Does transport in the hold present any risks?
According to Paris airports, “the hold is a ventilated and heated place”, a place in which the cages are maintained “stable throughout the journey”. An observation echoed by the president ofe Cats in the air, which confirms that “bunkers are pressurized”and that they do not present “no risk for animals”. “The danger is therefore not in the plane, but in the handling, before and after the flight,” assure Manuela Vidal.
On the other hand, Sonia Aguado, president of the Fly Together movement, which works to “changing the way animals are transported on commercial flights”, she asserts that the transport of animals in the hold, “a few meters from the suitcases and not in a separate place”, poses a real danger. “Luggage can very well fall on the transport cages, damaging them, and also frightening the animals”pointe Sonia Aguado.
Any precedents?
According to Manuela Vidal, other stories similar to Amalka's are happening “far too often.” “For 30,000 animals transported to France by the Air France group on Orly and Roissy each year, there will be five or six that will be lost, figures the former airline employee. This figure may seem insignificant, but it is already too many. Each incident monopolizes our volunteers, rescue teams, and stress for the family, when all of this could easily be avoided. The president of the association mentions in particular the case of Teddy, a cat who disappeared for more than a month at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, after his owner found his cage damaged and completely empty. Zoom, a Pinscher dog, had also escaped from his cage and wandered on the trails for several days.
What could be the alternatives?
Through his association, Manuel Vidal campaigns to secure the air transport of pets, and thus hopes to bounce back from the Amalka affair to push his proposals. At the top: “Ensure that the animal is, in addition to the cage, transported in a net.” SO“if for any reason the transport cage becomes fragile and opens, the animal would still not be able to escape”, describes the retiree. “This net would be 100% safe.”
For her part, Sonia Aguado pleads so that “animals are no longer considered baggage from the moment they enter an airport”. “We want to open up the possibility so that they can travel in the cabin, without weight limit,” she explains, “all with a ceiling fixed in advance”. And to conclude: “A first step so that animals are no longer just suitcases.” Contacted by LiberationAir France has not yet specified whether such developments were being considered by the company.
