Flewdunnit! Jumbo bunny dies f lying on scandal-hit US airline
THE airline that sparked a global outcry when a passenger was dragged off an overbooked plane faced fresh embarrassment yesterday – after a giant rabbit mysteriously died in its care.
At 3ft5in long, Simon was expected to one day inherit his father’s title as the world’s biggest bunny.
His British breeder said the tenmonth-old continental rabbit was ‘fit as a fiddle’ when he flew out of Heathrow on a United Airlines flight to join a new celebrity owner in the US.
But he was found dead in a holding room at chicago’s O’Hare Airport before a connecting flight.
The airline is still reeling after being forced to apologise over shocking video footage of passenger Dr David Dao being forcibly removed from a flight.
The 69-year-old had refused to give up his seat for crew who
‘Questions need to be answered’
needed to work the next day. United told Simon’s breeder Annette Edwards, from Stoulton, Worcestershire, that ccTV was being reviewed to try to establish how the £300 animal died. She also owns Simon’s father, Darius, who is the world’s largest rabbit at 4ft 4in.
Mrs Edwards, 66, declined to name Simon’s ‘very famous’ new owner, but said he had built a 16ft by 12ft log cabin in his garden for the rabbit to live in.
‘They haven’t said whether foul play is suspected but something very strange has happened,’ she said. ‘Apparently he was fine when he was taken off the flight and he was checked in the room too. It was only when they went back to get him to put him on the connecting flight to canton, Ohio, that they discovered he had died. I don’t know how long he had been kept in the room during this time – there are many questions that still need to be answered.’
Mrs Edwards, a former Play20, boy model, said Simon was inspected by her local vet on April 19 – when he was ‘hopping happily about the room’ – and certified as fit to fly. He was taken by courier to Heathrow ahead of the flight early on April and died that day. United said: ‘The safety and well-being of all the animals that travel with us is of the utmost importance ... We have been in contact with our customer and have offered assistance.’