Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has made efforts to improve its pet handling after some in-flight deaths of dogs, cats and other animals, but the most recent federal report on pet deaths involved a pair of chinchillas that were accidentally loaded into a bin with dry ice.
The two pet chinchillas died on a Delta flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis on Feb. 8, according to the report, which was part of a broader monthly summary of airline performance issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation this week.
The chinchillas were "mistakenly loaded in the baggage bin with a shipment containing a small amount of dry ice," the report said.
Necropsies noted the chinchillas "were subject to some sort of cardio-vascular insufficiency," but did not identify a cause of death. The incident report noted carbon dioxide from the dry ice may have caused or contributed to the deaths, but other factors could have been the chinchillas' heat sensitivity and stress from travel.
Atlanta-based Delta reported that it took corrective action, counseling supervisors on the ban against loading animals with any shipments of dry ice and putting new procedures in place in Anchorage.
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