Supermodel Maggie Rizer: United Airlines Killed My Dog
Supermodel Maggie Rizer and husband Alex Mehran, are grieving their beloved two-year-old Golden Retriever Bea (short for Beatrice) after she died two-weeks ago during a United Airlines flight from NYC to San Francisco.
The model took to her personal blog, "Bea Makes Three" to voice her frustrations against the airline's aloof response towards Bea's sudden passing:
"When we arrived in San Francisco to pick up our dogs we drove to the dark cargo terminal and on arrival in the hanger were told simply, "one of them is dead" by the emotionless worker who seemed more interested in his text messages. It took thirty minutes for a supervisor to come to tell us, "it was the two year old." Subsequently we requested that our dog be returned to us and were told that she had been delivered to a local vet for an autopsy. Whatever thread of trust remained between us and United broke and we then insisted that she be returned to us for our own autopsy by our trusted veterinarian, Shann Ikezawa, DVM from Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center. Over the next two hours the supervisor's lie unraveled as it became clear that Bea was right behind a closed door the whole time and he had been discussing how to handle the potential liability with his boss who had left and sticking to the divert and stall tactic that they had been taught. Eventually Bea was returned and we drove her to the vet at midnight."
After the family's veterinarian performed a necropsy (dog autopsy) it was determined the canine died from a heatstroke.
"It will be two weeks since Beatrice was killed by United Airlines and since then United has refused to give us any information about what happened to our beloved little Bea other then, 'our internal investigation does not show any irregularities, as evidenced by the fact that your companion dog and other animals on board did not suffer the same fate,'" wrote Rizer.
United Airlines released a statement stating they were awaiting the necropsy results to conclude its investigation into Bea's death.
"We understand that the loss of a beloved pet is difficult and express our condolences to Ms. Rizer and her family for their loss," United Airlines' spokesperson Mary Ryan wrote in a statement to The Huffington Post. "After careful review, we found there were no mechanical or operational issues with Bea's flight and also determined she was in a temperature-controlled environment for her entire journey. We would like to finalize the review but are unable until we receive a copy of the necropsy."
According to E!News, the $1,800 Rizer shelled out to the airline for the safe transportation of Bea and Albert - the other the family pet, will be refunded. They have also covered the cost of the necropsy.