[Vision2020] When pigs fly . . .

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut) at:

http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-pig-on-plane-at-bradley-1130-20141129-story.html

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Pooping Pig And Its Owner Booted From Bradley Flight
WINDSOR LOCKS — Passengers on a US Airways aircraft waiting to depart Bradley International Airport Wednesday morning were puzzled when they saw a pig board their flight.

Puzzlement turned to concern for one of those passengers, University of Massachusetts-Amherst Professor Jonathan Skolnik, when he realized the open seat next to him in the last row of the Embraer 175 was going to be occupied by the young woman carrying the pig down the aisle

At first, Skolnik thought the large item the woman was carrying was a duffel bag — except that it was moving. And it stunk. The woman tied the pig's leash to the armrest then began to stow the other items she carried onto the plane, Skolnik wrote in email describing the incident that he sent to The Courant.

"Oh my Lord, where is she going to put that animal," Skolnik wrote. "I am burying my face in my sweater to hide from the stench. ... Now I, who dreads a dog coming too close, am contemplating an hour next to a big pig on the lap of my fellow [passenger]."

And then it got worse: The pig pooped

That's when the woman began talking to the pig like it was a person, said Rob Phelps of Haydenville, Mass., another passenger who was seated near Skolnik. "You're being a jerk" was one of the nicer comments the woman made to the pig, he said on Saturday.

A flight attendant told the woman, "'You've got to clean that up,'" Phelps said of the poop.

She tried, but the stench grew, Skolnik and Phelps said. The pig was running back and forth in the aisle, too, Skolnik wrote.

"One lady was complaining because it started to smell like a barnyard," Phelps said.

The woman was then told she and her pig would have to get off the airplane. Phelps snapped a photo as she walked toward the front of the plane, the pig slung over her left shoulder.

The woman was able to bring the pig through security and onto the airplane because it was considered an "emotional support animal," said Laura Masvidal, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, the parent company of US Airways.

To travel with an emotional support animal on American Airlines and US Airways, a passenger must provide documentation from a licensed mental health professional or doctor treating the traveler, according to the airline's website.

Despite the policy, when the pig became "disruptive," the flight crew asked the woman and her pig to get off the plane. The woman did not make a fuss, Phelps said.

"We needed an emotional support animal after that," Phelps said.

"I guess pigs didn't fly today," Skolnik added.

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A woman, who was permitted to bring a pig onto a plane at Bradley International Airport because it was considered an "emotional support animal," had to remove the animal when it became disruptive. 



http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/When_Pigs_Fly.jpg

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
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