Aldecosea made it through the first security checkpoint without any issues, but says she was chased down by another Spirit employee and told that rodents weren't allowed on their planes.
She tried to rent a car, but it was late November and the height of the Thanksgiving rush, so there were no rentals available. She considered taking a Greyhound bus, but needed to be in Florida in time for a medical procedure.
Aldecosea says a Spirit employee suggested either letting Pebbles go free outdoors or flushing the pet down the toilet. She told the Miami Herald that she "didn't have any other options" since she didn't want the hamster to suffer a slow death in the cold.
She decided to flush the hamster down the toilet.
“She was scared. I was scared. It was horrifying trying to put her in the toilet,” Aldecosea told the Herald. “I was emotional. I was crying. I sat there for a good 10 minutes crying in the stall.”
Spirit Airlines denies that any of its employees told Aldecosea to kill her pet. Derek Dombrowski, Spirit's media relations manager, said Aldecosea's isn't completely true.
"After researching this incident, we can say confidently that at no point did any of our agents suggest this guest (or any other for that matter) should flush or otherwise injure an animal," Dombrowski wrote in an email. "It is incredibly disheartening to hear this guest reportedly decided to end her own pet’s life."
People, understandably, are horrified with Pebbles' untimely demise. And they're skeptical of whose version of the story is right.
This story stinks to high heaven of fakery.
Given that an “emotional support” animal has a special attachment to the person, it’s inconceivable that she would kill it at the dubious demand of another.
I’d like to have seen the peacock flushed down the toilet!
I never heard of Richard Gere ever having any issues smuggling his “emotional support” gerbils onto flights.
“Go for the eyes Boo! Go for the eyes!”
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
PETA will Love This!
Well...
...as long as it made her feel better....
In my best Alvin the Chipmunk voice
HELLLLP MEEEEeee!!
“..the emotional support....hamster.......gets flushed down toilet.........”.....
So much for “emotional support”. If she really needed that hamster to keep her from going bonkers, what happened AFTER the hamster took up sky diving and the woman was left without the furry little critter to console her?
It gets even better. She’s calling the hamster an “emotional support” hamster, but the reality is she bought it because she found a lump she thought might be cancer. It wasn’t. She was taking the flight to have the benign tumor removed and is now calling the hamster an emotional support animal. It’s a pet. Still, she’s an idiot. It occurs to her to call the media AFTER the flight? Why didn’t it occur to her to call them BEFORE she killed the hamster? I hope her parents are paying attention. Heaven forbid she’s their medical power of attorney. She is completely unable to function under any form of stress.
I’m waiting for a story where the emotional support animal runs away from its human because the human was such a lame and pathetic wuss that the animal couldn’t stand to be around 24/7, 365.
but I’m your support Ham,,,,,,,glub glub
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYy9LysXANI
It's the South Park scene where Paris Hilton's dog puts a gun under his chin and paws at the trigger...
Couldn't Pebbles have jumped into the toilet, squeaking the hamster version of "ODIN!!!", rather than suffer one more "snuggle" from that emotional train wreck?
guess she dint need it after all