Pet owners evacuating Puerto Rico by airliner are being forced to make a heartbreaking decision: they either have to leave their beloved pets behind, or they have to stay in Puerto Rico —
often without power or water — to be with their pets.
While pets weighing less than 20 pounds are allowed in the cabins of most airliners flying to and from Puerto Rico, the cargo holds — the area where larger dogs and other pets are usually put on flights — have been taken over by federal authorities for the purpose of transporting supplies.
The authorities will not allow Hurricane evacuees to bring their larger dogs with them on these flights, even though the cargo holds are reportedly
mostly empty on flights leaving Puerto Rico.
After more than 250,000 pets and many of their owners died following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the federal Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act was enacted to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again in the United States.
There's no reason pet owners in Puerto Rico should have to make such a painful decision. Please sign and share this petition demanding FEMA end this unnecessary ban and allow Hurricane victims to transport their pets in the cargo holds of flights leaving Puerto Rico.
