While working in China teaching English, Monique Collette adopted two dogs – a golden retriever and a small terrier. The golden had the personality that everyone he met fell in love with, and being silly and goofy made Maverick even more endearing.
According to Victoria News, the two dogs, Maverick and Chocolate, had been her constant companions, but when the pandemic first began in China, Monique decided to return home and hired a professional pet mover to arrange the transport for the dogs. Both Monique and the mover arranged the flights that could best accommodate both dogs for the long flight to their new home.
Their journey started in July when the dogs departed Xinjiang to Guangzhou. From there the mover sent photos of the dogs as they played outside of the airport. On the next flight from Guangzhou to Vancouver however, there were no more photos.
Collette’s mother had been waiting at the Vancouver airport for hours to claim the dogs when they arrived and was finally told the golden had passed away.
Canada Border Service advised China Southern Airlines to perform a necropsy on Maverick to determine the cause of the previous healthy two-and-a-half-year-old dog’s death. The airline did not comply. Instead the family ordered the exam, and it was determined the dog had died from brain hemorrhaging and a heart attack during the flight. His crate had been heavily damaged, and there were signs that Maverick had desperately been trying to free himself from the shelter container. Blood was found around the inside of the crate, and the dog’s teeth had been heavily damaged indicating he had been trying to escape.
China Southern Airlines has not responded to Monique’s questions nor have there been any apologies issued by the airlines.
The day the dogs were flying had been one of very high temperatures, and other airlines were not transporting animals that day.
Monique has retained an attorney and wants an apology, $35,000 for the loss of her dog and above all – assurance that something like this will not happen again. New protocols have to be instituted to assure the safety of pets traveling.
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