Pets stranded by travel shutdown

WHEN Guy Nizan flew to Israel with his wife and daughter for a family emergency in March, Gula — their six-year-old German shepherd mix — stayed behind in New York with a pet sitter.

But as the coronavirus outbreak accelerated and airlines began canceling flights, it became clear the family would not be coming home anytime soon. With airlines scrapping pet transport services, the Nizans became increasingly desperate.

“We just couldn’t stand the thought of her being alone,” Nizan said.

After nearly two months, a pet transportation firm found a spot for her on one of Israeli airline El Al’s rare freight flights.

Gula was one of the “lucky passengers,” however. More than a thousand pets are currently stranded worldwide by the global flight cancellations and country border closures.

Major airlines like United Airlines, which have slashed passenger flights by more than 90 percent, suspended their pet programs in mid-March.

Only a handful of carriers, including IAG Cargo, a sister company of British Airways, still transport pets.

Australian pet owners have been hit especially hard. No airline currently transports pets to the country, which has stringent regulations.

That meant Frances Hayter and her husband Alan, on an eight-month work secondment in Texas, had to make a heart-wrenching decision when they caught one of the last flights back to Australia, leaving their 10-year-old cat Indigo to follow later.

“We don’t have kids, so abandoning our pet was a pretty serious decision,” Hayter said.

(Reuters)