You may have seen recent reports of the death of a pup while aboard a United flight from Houston to New York earlier this week. A flight attendant told a family that their dog, who was in a TSA approved carrier, would need to be put in the overhead bin. After some argument, the attendant assured the family that their dog would be safe, but three hours later when they arrived at their destination, he was dead.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and this extreme ignorance can’t be ignored – every day hundreds of pets are flown on commercial flights. There have been so many disturbing reports of pets getting lost, being injured, or dying while in the care of airline personnel, and it MUST STOP.

With airlines taking responsibility for our pets, they should be taking their care and safety as seriously as they do that of their other passengers. Because we believe all dogs matter, iHeartDogs has created a petition to let big airlines know that these incidences are unacceptable. We want to help them make a change. Our proposal is to create a travel coalition of the top leaders in the world on pet health and safety. We will then work directly with the airlines to create safe environments for pets that travel so that there are NO MORE DEATHS.

The petition already has over 10,000 signatures, but the more we have, the louder we become. By signing our Change.org petition, you’re telling airlines that the lives of our pets matter. That a three hour flight should not be a death sentence for any pet, and a change needs to be made.

Featured Photo: screenshot via KHOU.com