Dog left with lost baggage at Toronto Pearson Airport for about 21 hours

A Toronto lady says a canine she rescued from the Dominican Republic has been traumatized after being left in a nook of Toronto Pearson Worldwide Airport with baggage for about 21 hours.

Jena Butts had simply spent three months in Puerto Plata, the place she discovered and fell in love with a stray canine. She determined to deliver the animal again to Canada and discover it a very good dwelling.

Butts, together with the rescue named Winston and her personal canine, arrived at Toronto Pearson Worldwide Airport round 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. At about 2 a.m. her canine got here out—however Winston didn’t.

“(I) spoke to a few of the baggage individuals as they had been there and stated ‘I’m nonetheless ready for a canine.’ They informed me there’s nothing else there,” she stated.

Round 3 a.m. she was suggested by a customs agent to go dwelling and provides the airline a name later, as there have been no additional workers round.

“I used to be very offended and I didn’t perceive how no person could possibly be on the airport to assist me discover my canine,” she stated. “It is a dwelling creature.”

Butts spent the remainder of the morning making an attempt to contact the airline, Air Transat, to search out out if Winston had even made it to Toronto or if he was nonetheless in Peurto Plata.

About 21 hours later, customs at Pearson airport noticed the crate.

“He was present in a nook with misplaced luggage,” Butts stated.

A customs agent had damaged Winston out of his crate to provide him water, Butts stated, however the animal was nonetheless lined in urine by the point she acquired to him.

“He’s very traumatized,” she stated. “I’ll undoubtedly not be travelling with canines for some time now.”

Butts stated she acquired an e mail from the corporate GTA dnata, a service supplier for Air Transit at Pearson airport, apologizing for the incident and providing her a present card as compensation.

“Whereas there have been causes for the service failure that left you questioning concerning the whereabouts of your treasured pet, we are able to solely guarantee you that we are going to take the mandatory steps to make sure no different pet proprietor has to expertise an analogous state of affairs,” Chief Government Officer Antonio Alvarez wrote. “You entrusted them together with your valuable cargo and regrettably, we allow you to down.”

“As a canine proprietor, I can absolutely respect the anguish that our failure brought on you and we wish to give you a small token of compensation within the type of a present card that you need to use at your discretion.”

Butts stated she nonetheless has not heard from Air Transat straight. When reached for remark, the airline informed CTV Information Toronto they’ve requested a full investigation into the incident.

“We’re deeply sorry that our shopper needed to undergo this aggravating state of affairs. We are going to contact them straight to supply the total particulars and provide compensation. “

Butts stated she isn’t all collectively eager about compensation. What she needs the airline to do is create a greater coverage in the case of the dealing with of stay animals on their planes.

“I’m nonetheless very shaken up,” she stated. “It’s laborious to place my phrases collectively. There must be a process, higher insurance policies.”

“I really feel like (Air Transat) might have dealt with the state of affairs in a significantly better manner and, , with a little bit bit extra empathy as a result of no person appeared to care.”

She stated that Winston was purported to be taken to his new dwelling the day he landed, however that has been postponed a day due to the traumatic expertise.

Over the previous couple of weeks travellers flying via Pearson airport have made complaints about misplaced baggage and delayed or cancelled flights. Pictures exhibits hundreds of luggage sitting idly within the baggage declare space, ready for house owners to return gather them.

One man informed CP24 that he arrived in Toronto 16 days in the past and was nonetheless ready for his misplaced baggage.

The Higher Toronto Airport Authority cited staffing shortages, flight delays and cancellations and momentary mechanical disruptions as a few of the causes for the “challenges with baggage.”

With recordsdata from CTV Information Toronto’s Jessica Smith and Carol Charles