DENVER (KDVR) — Two Colorado sisters are making waves on the U.S. territory island of Saipan near Guam, and are urging United Airlines to bring back pet-safe travel to help stray dogs.
The organization is called Boonie Babies, named after the term boonie dogs for the former military dogs forgotten or left on the island. Grace and Aria Keilbach cofounded the organization to decrease the population of up to 30,000 stray dogs on the island.
So far, the Boonie Babies organization has adopted over 600 dogs, however, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Currently, United is the only U.S.-based airline on the island. They stopped flying pets in the cargo hold in 2018, briefly reopened it and then closed it again due to COVID-19.
Because there is no way to fly pets off the island, a lot of the adopted dogs get left behind again when the family moves.
“So, the euthanasia rate in [Guam] animal shelters is about 95%. About 40% of [animal] surrenders are owner-surrenders due to moving off of the island. The rest of the owners who cannot bear to give their animals to the shelters that will most likely put them down do just release them onto the streets which makes them feel better in the moment, but then just ends up exacerbating the stray overpopulation,” said Aria. “It’s a humanitarian crisis when you look at how dogs are an invasive species here and how they affect this island.”
Advocates on the island have staged protests to get United’s attention with signs that have photos of dogs with the caption, “We die if we don’t fly.” They also started a petition.
Aria said at this point, it’s not just about the dogs but also the health of people on the island.
“We have a major health care worker shortage here, like everywhere but especially here, when we’re so isolated and remote. It’s very hard to get health care workers to fly out and work at the hospital here. And we have seen so many turn away the offer solely because of the reason that they cannot bring their pets with them,” said Aria. “This community matters.”
United Airlines sent FOX31 a statement on the matter:
In March 2020, we announced a suspension of all international and domestic PetSafe service. Like many other airlines, we implemented those measures in response to the unprecedented business environment brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. We are still unable to offer the PetSafe service – in Guam and all other places we serve – due to the elimination of certain necessary elements of the program, including veterinarians on contract, trained ground personnel and designated animal relief areas. These are necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of the animals in our care.
We are always discussing ways in which we can provide travels options to the communities we serve. Our history in Guam and Micronesia goes back nearly 60 years, and we hear their concerns. But at the moment, we don’t have anything more to share.”
United Airlines spokesperson
The Keilbach sisters said they aren’t going to give up.