Janet Sinclair and her dog "Sedona"
When Janet Sinclair shipped her greyhound from San Diego to Boston with
United Airlines' PetSafe program, she was horrified to discover her dog
nearly dead on arrival, covered in feces and blood, with blood in its
stool and urine. The dog had been exposed to punishing heat, its cage
had been kicked across United's shipping facilities by their handlers.
The vet bill was $2700, and the vet confirmed that the dog's injuries
were the result of heat stroke and rough treatment.
United agreed to pay the vet bill, but only if Sinclair would sign a nondisclosure agreement promising not to tell anyone about their monumental screw-up. Instead, Sinclair went public. The ensuing media attention revealed hundreds of other people whose pets were injured and killed by United.
"And the woman in front of me said – 'Is that your dog?'" Sinclair said. "And she said, ‘Honey, I sure hope you’re taking video of this.’ And that was the beginning of the worst day of my life."
She shot cell phone video that July day and shared it with NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit. The video she recorded periodically shows her pets left outside, not in a temperature-controlled vehicle. According to the National Weather Service, the high in Houston that day was 94 degrees. When they touched down in Boston, Sinclair said her dog was barely alive.
"Sedona’s entire crate was filled with blood, feces, urine," Sinclair said. "Sedona was in full heat stroke. All of the blankets were filled with blood. She was urinating and defecating blood. She was dying, literally, right in front of me."
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