Woman drowns dog in airport restroom in Orlando
A woman drowned her dog in a restroom at a Florida airport and then boarded her international flight after she was not allowed to bring the white miniature schnauzer on board due to a paperwork issue, according to authorities.
The woman was arrested in Lake County on charges of aggravated animal cruelty, a third-degree capital felony.
She was released on a bond of $5’000.
“This act was intentional and resulted in the cruel and unnecessary death of the animal,” states an affidavit from the Orlando Police Department. The animal welfare issue is evident here in a disturbing manner.
Dog found in trash container of a restroom stall
No attorney was listed for the woman from Kenner, Louisiana, in online court records.
The investigation into the death of the 9-year-old schnauzer Tywinn began in December, when a janitor found the dog in a garbage bag inside a restroom stall at Orlando International Airport.
The janitor had previously observed the woman wiping up water and dog food from the floor of the stall. The janitor was called away due to a cleaning emergency and returned to the restroom 20 minutes later, where she found Tywinn in the trash container, along with a vest, a collar, a rabies tag, a travel bag for the dog, and a bone-shaped dog tag bearing the woman’s name and phone number, according to investigators.
Surveillance cameras document the incident
The airport’s surveillance cameras recorded the woman speaking with a Latam Airlines employee for 15 minutes with the dog in tow, then entering a restroom near the ticketing area with the dog, and leaving the restroom less than 20 minutes later without Tywinn. The woman then left the terminal building, re-entered it a short time later, passed through the security checkpoint, and boarded the flight to Colombia, according to the report.
The authorities stated that the woman was told she could not bring her dog on board because she did not have the required documents. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, dogs traveling from the United States to Colombia must be accompanied by a veterinary health certificate and a rabies vaccination record. More on animal rights.
The dog was identified by its implanted microchip, and the autopsy determined that Tywinn had been drowned. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency also confirmed to investigators that the woman had boarded a flight to Bogotá, Colombia, and then flown to Ecuador.
