Tag: New York City

Allowing Dogs on Doorless NYC Helicopter Tours Is a Truly Terrible Idea

 

Last year, five passengers taking a FlyNYON tour over New York City were killed when the helicopter they were riding in crashed into the East River.

FlyNYON, which is facing lawsuits and federal investigations over that accident, is still in business. It offers “doors-off” flights so that passengers can dangle their feet and legs 1,000 feet above the ground for super awesome, super Instagrammable photo opportunities.

Now FlyNYON is apparently trying to drum up more business by allowing dogs on its sightseeing helicopter flights.

This is a terrible idea for at least a couple of reasons. One is that the helicopter doesn’t have doors, so it seems like it could be possible for an extremely stressed-out dog to squirm out of their harness and owner’s lap, and jump out. Why would that dog be so stressed out? Because of the loud noise and the fact that the dog is 1,000 up in the air in a doorless helicopter. Frankly, I’d be terrified, too.

FlyNYON is “flying dogs high above New York, offering thrill-seekers the chance to dangle their feet — and now their pet — above city buildings, bridges, waters and more,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said at a news conference today, NBC New York reports.

Schumer, Sen. Bob Menendez, the Humane Society of the United States and PETA are all urging FlyNYON to stop these dangerous flights. Schumer also called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to look into a “loophole allowing doors-off [flights] to remain operational in the first place.”

It’s extremely disappointing that FlyNYON has what it calls a “special partnership” with the nonprofit Pilots N Paws. Volunteer pilots with this organization provide transportation for animals so they can be rescued and adopted. How on earth could they be on board with the awful idea of allowing pet dogs on doors-off helicopter flights? There are much safer and more humane ways to raise funds.

A FlyNYON spokesperson insisted in a statement that the company is “fully compliant with all FAA operating and safety standards.”

But, as Schumer said, to allow dogs on its flights “is a sheer jaw-drop.” He said the same company involved in last year’s fatal crash is now “strapping in dogs for people to snap pictures of while the animals all but dangle high above New York skies, experiencing the sound of the rotors and who knows what other cruel things.”

The dog-friendly flights are “cruel and inhumane,” according to Brian Shapiro, New York state director for the Humane Society of the United States.

The FlyNYON spokesperson invited Senators Schumer and Menendez  to come to the company’s New Jersey office “and discuss this very important matter.” Hopefully the senators will do just that and convince flyNYON why it’s very important not to allow dogs on their helicopter tours.

Photo: FlyNYON/YouTube screen grab

GRRR: 2 Hero Dogs Who Apprehended NYC Mugger Euthanized by Shelter

When a teenager snatched a woman’s purse in Queens, N.Y., earlier this month, two stray dogs — a German Shepherd and a Pit Bull — took off after the thief. They pinned him down in nearby Springfield Park and bit him.

Even then, the four-legged crimestoppers were treated very poorly by officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit. The two dogs were pepper-sprayed, beaten with batons and shot with tranquilizer darts before being transported to Animal Care & Control of NYC (AC&C).

“The dogs were still lingering, looking to get him,” a police source told the New York Post. “They were set up to continue their mauling.”

The 15-year-old boy was treated for bite wounds at a local hospital. He was charged with petit larceny and will live on to hopefully not steal more purses.

But if he does, those two hero dogs won’t be around to stop him. Even though George Petruncio of Sewell, N.J., let AC&C know he wanted to adopt the German Shepherd and Pit Bull, the two dogs were euthanized yesterday because they were allegedly too aggressive.

“They never gave the dogs a chance,” Petruncio told the Post. “They did a good thing and this is how you repay them? It’s garbage.”

Polices officers in Queens’ 105th precinct also did their best to spare the lives of the two dogs. They offered to help AC&C place them with a rescue group.

“The dogs deserved a second chance because of how they helped out,” a police source told the Post. “It just doesn’t seem like justice was served for these dogs.”

AC&C has a troubling reputation with animals, and not only dogs. Earlier this week a bull that escaped from a slaughterhouse — and was promised to be released to a sanctuary — died after being shot with multiple tranquilizer darts. In December, a beloved deer that lived in a Harlem park died from stress after it was captured by AC&C.

However, it wasn’t the AC&C, but the NYC Department of Health that issued death sentences for the hero dogs.

“After a comprehensive assessment by an animal behavioral specialist, the two dogs that mauled a teenager were determined too aggressive to be placed at rescue organization or put up for adoption,” spokesman Julien A. Martinez said yesterday. “They were humanely euthanized today.”

The heartbreaking tale of these two hero dogs makes me all the more thankful for groups like BAD RAP and Best Friends Animal Society, who took in and rehabilitated some other famous dogs that were also deemed too aggressive to ever be adopted: the survivors of Michael Vick’s dog-fighting operation. Many of those dogs went on to become therapy and service dogs — and even earned the title of ASPCA Dog of the Year.

Good thing the AC&C’s animal behavioral specialist and the NYC Department of Health didn’t get to Vick’s dogs first.

Photo credit: FastPhive

Grrr: NYC Luxury Co-op Requires DNA Tests to Determine Banned Breeds

When I saw a headline earlier today about an Upper West Side co-op in New York City requiring DNA tests for its dog tenants, I assumed the purpose was to identify poo that had not been picked up by their irresponsible pet parents. (Yes, this is a thing.)

I assumed wrong. The DNA tests are for something much more sinister.

Pet parents living in the luxury tower at 170 West End Ave. must have their veterinarians confirm the pedigree of their dogs. For mixed breeds, the vet must indicate the percentage of each breed. And if the vet is unsure of what breed(s) a dog happens to be, that dog must take a DNA test.

Why?

Because certain dogs “are not permitted to reside in the building based upon documented information regarding their tendency towards aggressiveness,” according to the new discrimination policy the co-op board sent to tenants last month.

Surprisingly, among the 27 banned breeds are small dogs, including Maltese, Pomeranians and Shih Tzu. Pit Bulls, German Shepherds, Saint Bernards and Basset Hounds are also prohibited.

Any dog who is at least 50 percent of any of the banned breeds cannot live in the building.

‘It’s Like Dog Racism’

“It’s like dog racism, essentially,” one disgruntled tenant told DNAinfo.com. “It’s beyond offensive. It’s intrusive.”

The tenant refused to be identified because, like many other pet parents in the building, he or she fears the negative publicity could affect their property values.

The co-op board president, Robert Sadin, has refused to comment on the new policy, as has the property manager, FirstService Residential.

“Mark my words, there is going to be a lawsuit for dog discrimination,” Sylvia Shapiro, a lawyer and author of the book “The New York Co-op Bible,” told DNAInfo.com.

“The problem with dogs is not the dogs, it’s the owners,” she said. “There seems to be a lot of irrational people around.”

I propose that DNA tests be required for the co-op board, based on their tendency towards ignorance.

Photo credit: sari_dennise

TSA Agents Discover Stowaway Chihuahua in Checked Suitcase

When a woman was packing her suitcase earlier this week, she didn’t notice that her 7-year-old Chihuahua had hopped inside it.

As U.S. security agents were inspecting checked baggage for an American Airlines flight from New York’s La Guardia Airport Tuesday, an alarm went off. They expected to uncover something like a gun, knife or perhaps a gas-filled chainsaw (it’s happened).

Instead, they found the Chihuahua, alive and well, and staring up at them.

“TSA worked with the airline to identify the owner, and the two were happily reunited,” reads the caption of a photo posted by the Transportation Security Administration on Instagram, with the appropriate hashtag #TSAGoodCatch.

When TSA contacted the Chihuahua’s dog mom, “she was just as surprised as the TSA officer who found it,” spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in a statement today.

While pets are sometimes allowed in the cargo hold of airplanes, they need to be in airline-approved crates — not in hard-sided suitcases with no breathing holes.

As the TSA noted in the photo caption, “It’s always important to double check your bags before traveling, especially to make sure your Chihuahua hasn’t stowed away inside one of them.”

The Chihuahua’s dog mom called her husband, who came and got the little stowaway, and took him home.

Photo via Instagram

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