A Pomeranian dog named Alejandro is pictured in this undated photo.Dellegrazie said he was filled with “very strong feelings of pain, anger anger and disgust at the moment, which intensified when he went through the pup’s personal belongings and found them soaking wet.
“It was at that point that I stopped the retrieval of the items and called for a criminal investigation. The area was completely taped off, and some of the items were marked, and some of those are with the Detroit Police Department,” he said.
He said he’s calling for a police investigation and a separate FBI probe to make sure that pets are “treated like they’re passengers.”
“I’m calling upon the FBI to get involved -- not only in Alejandro’s case, but in other cases,” Dellegrazie said.
Delta confirmed the dog’s death in a statement to ABC News over the weekend, but it did not comment on the details of its ongoing investigation into the matter.
“We know pets are an important member of the family and we are focused on the well-being of all animals we transport. Delta is conducting a thorough review of the situation and have been working directly with Alejandro’s family to support them however we can,” the statement said. “As part of that review, we want to find out more about why this may have occurred to ensure it doesn’t happen again and we have offered to have Alejandro evaluated by a veterinarian to learn more.”
Nearly 507,000 animals were transported on U.S. airlines last year, and of those, 24 died, according to Department of Transportation figures. Two died on Delta flights, out of 34,628 transported, while the most pet deaths in 2017 occurred on United by a wide margin (18).
One recent case that got a lot of attention was in March when a dog died on a United Airlines flight after it was put in its carrier into an overhead bin.
The pet's owners -- Catalina Robledo and her young daughter, Sophia Ceballos -- alleged that a flight attendant knew a dog was in the carrier when she told them to put it in the overhead bin, although the attendant denied those claims. United said it would change its pet policy and start issuing bright-colored tags to passengers traveling with pets in the aftermath of the incident.
Kaynak:Abcnews