A Miami college student claims an airline employee suggested she flush her emotional support hamster down the a toilet after the airline refused to let the animal fly home with her in November 2017.
According to the Miami Herald, Belen Aldecosea is considering filing a lawsuit against Spirit Airlines after she says she was told ahead of time that she could bring her hamster Pebbles on the flight, but later was told she couldn’t bring him on board when she arrived at the airport for her flight.
When Aldecosea said she had no one to take care of the hamster for her, she claims a rep for the airline suggested she flush the animal down the toilet or let it go free, the Herald reported.
Aldecosea said she tried to rent a car to drive herself and the animal to Miami from Baltimore, but at 21, was too young to do so.
Aldecosea had tickets to fly from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Miami on Nov. 21, 2017 when she claims she was told that Pebbles, the doctor-certified support animal she obtained during a cancer scare while she was a freshman at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, would not be allowed on the flight with her.
She said she was afraid the hamster would freeze to death or get hit by a car if she let it go, so she reluctantly flushed it down an airport toilet in what she called a “horrifying” experience.
“I didn’t have any other options,” she said, the Herald reported.
Spirit Airlines spokesman Derek Dombrowski said Aldecosea was mistakenly told beforehand that she could bring the hamster on the flight but denied that any employee suggested she flush or injure the hamster in any way.
“It is incredibly disheartening to hear that this guest reportedly decided to end her own pet’s life,” Dombrowski said, The Washington Post reported.
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