Man who abandoned puppy outside airport to face animal cruelty charges
· Toronto Sun
A Texas man accused of abandoning a Labrador puppy outside a Pennsylvania airport is facing charges.
Visit catcross.org for more information.
Police were alerted to a dog running loose near the departures drop-off area at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday around 5 p.m.
Officers, with the help of bystanders, were able to safely secure the Labrador retriever pup, the Allegheny County Police Department said in a news release .
Authorities said then when they spoke to the dog’s owner, Omar Perez, 42, of Texas, initially claimed he had witnessed an Uber driver abandon the dog.
However, investigators determined that Perez left the dog behind “when he realized he was unable to fly with it.”
Perez is facing multiple charges, including animal cruelty and animal abandonment.
The puppy is “doing well” according to police, and has been placed in foster care.
The department also praised Officer Riley Tkatch, not only for his role in the probe but also for “helping secure a safe home for the dog.”
Previous airport dog abandonments
This abandoned Lab isn’t the first instance a pet has been left behind at a busy airport.
In 2023, also at Pittsburgh International, a woman abandoned her brown-and-white French bulldog after being told the pooch could not board a flight with her to Mexico.
Allegheny County Police posted a similar message on Facebook to Friday’s post: “Don’t leave your pets behind!”
The French bulldog’s owner was charged with animal cruelty and related charges.
And last month, a the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released video of a woman trying to board a flight — without the dog sitting obediently next to her at the Jet Blue counter.
After being denied a boarding pass for the dog, due to not having the required forms to travel with an animal as a service dog, she “left the dog behind and proceeded through the airport to the departure gate.”
She was arrested and booked for animal abandonment, as well as resisting arrest, according to police.
The dog, affectionately nicknamed JetBlue, had a happy ending when his rescuer was selected to be the goldendoodle’s new owner.