killamarsh

Thought this was a forum about moving to Aus not about your sex life dear

JustBecause

Obviously both types of crate have been tested in order to pass the minimum IATA safety criteria. As well as making sure the crates themselves are strong enough, all measures should be taken to ensure they are not subject to undue stress (eg by a fall) in the first place. When this is as simple as securing crates with a strap or using an enclosed vehicle there is no excuse as to why it is not done all the time, every time.

NikiL

Couldn't agree with you more. Unfortunately it is obvious this isn't the case with making sure they are secure. Really do think ASPCA have a case to get involved here.

sel

It is shocking what happened to Toby ... but, just to add a little perspective, it is the first time I have heard of this happening to a BE members pet over the time I have been coming on here. Thousands of pets have been delivered with no problems at all, mine included.

I am not trying to belittle Toby's death at all and I truly hope they are able to get some justice but Import and export of livestock has always had its issues and measures have been taken to improve standards over the years but at the end of the day human error is always going to rear its ugly head and you will always get those types that work as handlers that dont give a toss.

snowbunny

Sack them then and charge them with negligent treatment of animals.

sasbear

Me too - I found both my cats good homes - unfortuantely they had to be separated - but that didn't bother them - they never really got on

But I found it so hard to give my Felix up, she was 10 years old at the time, and I cried for weeks and I still miss her 3 years on. If I could have afforded the money - and also had somewhere to live I would have considered it - but the bottom line weas - she was a fluffy white outdoor cat and would not have faired well in Oz. Prone to skin cancer the vet said.

She is happy in her new home and I have seen her on the web cam a few times.

Kath & Graham

I think its shocking Ive just rang our dog handlers that our taking our dogs back to UK. They said that they have no control over the dogs in the handling department once at the airport but said they use international handlers and not domestic ones and that they are more responsible.

The guy I spoke was shocked when I told him what had happened and that there are stories on forums about what happens to these animals and he said that some of these companies are still using the old crates and not the new ones.

My two are being picked up next week and he is sending their actual crates so that we can inspect them. He was very understanding and did his upmost to assure me, but it doesnt make me feel any happier.

My heart goes out to Toby - I also have a Toby and if anything happens to either of my dogs I would be devastated!!! what a horrible experience for these owners, and thank God for forums like these that make people aware of what really can and does happen to animals!!!

I think I gave him something to think about that if anything happens I will deffo be posting on here the good and the bad about my handlers they do seem to have a good reputation and I will let you know how we get on.

Kath


BTW they are NOT strapped into these open back transporters to these planes so my thought is they must drive flippin stupid for them to fall off, dont you think?

ray2gill

We shipped our dog (German Shepherd x Collie) in a plastic crate. The two halves - top & bottom are screwed together and it takes some doing to separate them to store them. It would hold together even if one or two of the screws were undone or missing. It would need something pretty drastic to happen to break it open.

ray2gill

The Vari Kennels are the best as they have 6 screws - 3 on each side which physically have to be undone to seperate the two halves - top & bottom. The others have clips which can be flipped up if caught on anything or lose and the crate will open.

ray2gill

We were advised by our vet that as our pets were not used to being confined for a long period of time it would be best to have the crates some time before and shut them in them for short periods of time gradually increasing it so that they got used to it.

We left the doors off and put their beds in the crates and they got used to sleeping in them. We then put the doors on several times so they didn't panic at being shut in.

It worked very well and we had a very relaxed dog. The cat was stressed but he always is at anything new and would have been more so if they hadn't travelled together where he could see our dog all the time.

Cheetah7

Well as one poster mentioned, when she was at Brisbane Airport whilst waiting on her plane, she witnessed handlers kick a crate with a dog inside across the tarmac.

So it can explain why sturdy boxes are coming apart - being thrown, dropped or kicked will not help.

And I do not think this cruelty is an isolated incident, I think it is a regular occurance.

smee

What a great idea.

melaniee

Our dog loves his crate still-he used to go into kennels with it and will quite happily still sit in it-obviously not too traumatised by the whole experience then ! Mind you, he did use it internationally 3 times !