Baggage handler fired after refusing to load emaciated and abused dog on flight

A Reno-area woman says she was fired as a baggage handler at Reno-Tahoe International Airport last month after she refused to load an emaciated hunting dog on a plane.



Lynn Jones of Lockwood said her supervisor told her to load the dog lying in a pet carrier because the animal's paperwork was in order and its condition wasn't her concern.



But Jones, an employee of contractor Airport Terminal Services at the time, told the Reno Gazette-Journal that she couldn't put the dog on the plane for shipment to Texas because its paws were bloody and its body was covered with sores.



Fired: The former airport handler, Lynn Jones, sits with her three dogs a month after refusing to load an ailing dog onto a plane at Reno-Tahoe International Airport

She said: 'Everybody who saw it, the TSA people, the airport police officers, the girls at the ticket counter, was concerned.



'The dog was so weak and torn up. It didn't look like it could survive the flight. I was crying. I kept saying that dog could not be put on a plane.'

'Everybody who saw it, the TSA people, the airport police officers, the girls at the ticket counter, was concerned. The dog was so weak and torn up. It didn't look like it could survive the flight. I was crying. I kept saying that dog could not be put on a plane'

She said airport police phoned Washoe County Regional Animal Services, which took custody of the dog.



The animal is owned by a hunter who has it shipped to places he hunts, according to authorities.

It was taken back to Texas after being nursed back to health.

Jones said she was fired on the spot on November 15, adding: '[My supervisor] kept yelling, "That's it, you're done, you are out of here, go home".'

Officials at St Louis-based Airport Terminal Services, didn't return phone calls.



Secrets in abuse: County animal services officials say a new state law keeps details of animal abuse cases secret but the airport later determined the dog had been abused

Krys Bart, CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, said she was proud of how airport police intervened.



'In all my years here, this is the first time I'm thoroughly disgusted over what I understand to be the situation this animal was put in.

'They (officers) had an affirmative responsibility to deal with this, and that's what they did,' Ms Bart said.



Ms Bart said she was out of town when the incident occurred, but determined later that the dog had been abused prior to arriving at the airport.



County animal services officials declined to comment on the incident, citing a new state law that keeps details of animal abuse cases secret.



Jones said her job loss has been a hardship, but she has no regrets. She held the job for more than five years.

