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David, I am not sure where you came up with the statement “The airlines will not knowingly accept for transport any live animal which is either drugged or not in apparently good health” Is this just your personal opinion or did you pull this out of thin air? Out of curiosity I contacted two different major airlines and they said they have no regulation against a pet having been given a sedative and both stated that it is a common practice. An animal that is obviously not in good health is another story, but with a health certificate and prescription from your vet, the airlines will most certainly accept a pet for transport that may have been given a sedative.
I was told by every airline I’ve flown(delta, Continental, Jet Blue, and Air Tran) with our dog that they would not accept a tranquilized animal. So obviously they can’t keep their stories straight. When I asked why that was they told me that some animals have paradoxical reactions that could ultimately be very dangerous for a pet stuck in cargo.
Maravilla’s answer is my answer, dk. I talked to people at the airlines’ corporate level, the airlines’ local managers, the airlines’ local baggage/cargo managers, professional pet transporters, my own veterinarian and maybe others. Remember, I was at this from June ’til August trying to make sense of it all. Everyone I spoke to and everything I read said that they would not accept an obviously drugged (or ill) live animal.
I think you’ll find that any sedative you administer to an animal or human has the potential to depress respiration and cardiac functioning to some extent. That, coupled with the stress of being boxed up, the noise and vibration, the possiblity of high or low temperatures all add up to a recipe for trouble. And when an animal dies in the airline’s custody, there is h_ll to pay.
So, with all that said, is there anybody out there that knows of a way, or is interested, to get a private “noahs ark” going. Maybe if a few of us coordinated, we could get some tree huggin’, animal crazy private plane person to give us a package deal, and move some of our critters down there without subjecting them to all of the stress. I’m not one of these over sensitive anthropomorphising people when it comes to animals, but each time I fly, I imagine having my dogs down underneath in the hold, and it is a very upsetting feeling. I am very serious about trying to make this happen.
Anybody else?I’m in. I think if everyone interested does a little research and we plop everything in one place as you suggested it will be of great benefit to everyone and maybe we could get some general “problem solving” on these issues done. Perhaps an easy to setup group on Yahoo for starters?
BTW: I worked for an airline for 25 years as a res agent and I know from sitting next to the other yo-yo’s answering the phones around me that you don’t get the same answer twice. I always verified what I was telling people before I told then anything…..but not so for others-the first thing that pops into their brain is the answer. So, when dealing with the airlines I would go with what people further up the food chain in the company are telling you.
It definitely doesn’t surprise me that we would get different answers, and I don’t advocate drugging you pet. As I said previously, our vet advises against it.
This is for real, too, dkt2u . . .
In the summer of 2005, I spoke to several charter companies about flying from the U.S. to Costa Rica. The answers I got were breathtakingly expensive. At the time we had four Maine Coon cats as well as our Lab, Max, to consider. The cats posed a special problem. We were thinking that the five of them plus us in a charter might be a tolerable expense as compared to having a professional pet transporter move the four four-leggers while we flew commercial.
Anyway, the least expensive charter I could identify would fly us from Charlotte, NC to San Jose for $25,000US. That’s right! This was to be a twin-engine six-passenger plane that would have to stop twice to refuel and, with good weather the flight was forecast to take twenty-two hours. If you wanted to fly by jet, the cost went way, way up.
One charter company offered the following two insights into what seems like an exorbitant cost. First, the fees associated with using the airport in Costa Rica are astronomical. Second, no matter how well planned, the charter company has to look forward to an overnight stay for the crew, refueling, and then an empty, unpaid flight back to the U.S. The chances of picking up an U.S.-bound return charter are zero.
We made other plans.
Sorry.
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