Can it get any worse for United?
Too bad it wasn’t labelled as a pet therapy animal and could have hopped aboard into the cabin (sarcasm)
You can’t blame the airline for that. There are always risks when sending live animals through that way and the risks are stipulated to the customers.
I agree that it is a known risk that cargo holds in plants can be very hot to freezing cold (often the latter). This is one reason many owners do what it takes to bring their animals into the passenger section of the plane rather than cargo section. I don’t see any “scandal.”
@doschicos I know, we used to have Flemish giant rabbits, another large bread bunny. They are unfortunately pron to heart issues especially early in life because they are growing so darn fast. Big bunnies are also very sensitive to high temperatures so I hope that wasn’t a factor. Since we live in TX our big fellows had to be house rabbits.
We had rabbits. They do not like temp extremes and can also die of fright. I would not put one on a plane myself.
^^ Yes. Bunnies are definitely not the sturdiest pets.
United just can’t seem to catch a break.
Now they’ll also be associated with the deaths of bunny rabbits. And not too long after Easter no less.
Looks like those at United may find the Easter bunnies skip-hopping over the offices/homes of United’s CEO and Management next Easter when they’re making their chocolate egg delivery rounds…
Thumbnail photo is Jojo our last big bunny, still miss him. Yes that is and adult size person holding him.
When it rains it pours time for United. I can imagine the CEO cursing and kicking at all this bad news.
What kind of temperament does a bunny like that have?
Mine were very friendly. Jojo, my last, did not like to be picked up but he’d hop up on the sofa to snuggle and didn’t mind being petted while he was on the floor. He was litter box trained and lived in a large wire dog crate in the kitchen. He was spoiled rotten and would hop in front of you whenever you open the refrigerator because he knew that’s where the good treats were! He was a pretty mellow bunny.
Jack Daniels, our first big bunny was very energetic and would love to dash around and then flop on his side, bunny flops are very cute! Unfortunately we only had him less than a year, he developed heart problems and despite heroic and costly efforts we couldn’t save him.
I had backyard rabbits as child, New Zealand/Dutch mix, that really weren’t very friendly. I still have scars on my arms from I used to call “scratch attacks” from their hind feet. I really think the larger breeds are more docile.
This is very sad, but would have been a non-news item had it not been for the opportunity to pile on United.
I wouldn’t fault any carrier for animals dying in their cargo hold. Cargo holds are for inanimate cargo. Live things can die in settings that do not harm cargo.
Oh groan! They just reported on this on the news- saying the rabbit died shortly after being taken off the plane in Chicago and taken to a pet holding facility. They said ( and I am not making this up) they are investigating how the rabbit went from O’Hare to eternity.
@jym626 no one could make that up!
Don’t we have anything more newsworthy going on for these reporters to focus on? Pets die and disappear in transit… The owners most likely signed a contract and a release… Big deal (even if the bunny was big).
The number of animals that die vs those transported is very small per stats in the article. To me, this is one of the risks of flying live creatures in a cargo hold.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/04/26/travel/bunny-death-united-trnd/index.html
Of course it is small, but those things do happen and rarely make the news.
@3scoutsmom @jym626 – we watched the same news program… DH and I laughed out loud. Someone at CBS News had fun writing that story 
And for those who didn’t see it – this was no ordinary bunny. Its father was the world’s biggest rabbit… and itself measured at a healthy 3 FEET long