Dog breeder says puppy left in 34º heat at quarantine for an hour and a half

In a complaint to Air Malta, the man said he flew the dog as cargo from London Gatwick on an Air Malta flight to MIA. Flight KM113 landed in Malta at 3:52pm from London, and subsequently the owner says he waited for one hour, 38 minutes for his puppy to be dispatched to the quarantine section, located five minutes away from the airport.

“The puppy was dispatched at 5:30pm… I find it as totally unacceptable when one considers that Malta’s temperature was 34ºC on Thursday. Imagine a 4-month old puppy being left alone in this scorching sun in a box. This is certainly a case of animal cruelty and lack of concern of animal welfare,” Chris Attard, a dog breeder since 1996, told the airline.

He says an Air Malta security officer told him the puppy had been fetched at 4:30pm from the luggage section, while a customs officer claims he was informed at 4:55pm to dispatch the dog. The dog had to be at London Gatwick airport four hours in advance of the flight, and was then airborne for two and a half hours, and had to wait for another hour and a half in the sun, Attard said.

Attard added that Air Malta was “well informed in advance of the arrival of my pup. In fact an Air Malta personnel contacted me on mobile phone some days earlier to confirm that I would like to accept the pup.” “This is not my first import… It is always the same occurrence. I can testify myself that a five minutes drive from Malta’s airport to the quarantine section usually ends up in a long wait, until the Air Malta security personnel and the customs officer change duty.

“I hope that my complaint will be taken seriously and the necessary measures be taken so that this incident would not re-occur in the future. I do expect a better service from Air Malta especially when one considers that the cargo fees on animal transfers to Malta by Air Malta are rather expensive when compared to other airlines.”