Airline grounds turbulent pig

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Pigs really can't fly! A passenger and her pig were asked to leave the plane after the unsettled swine became unruly, ABC News reports.

Passengers on a US Airways flight out of Connecticut got a surprise when passenger Rachel Boerner arrived carrying her 70-pound emotional support pig Hobey. Professor and fellow passenger Jonathan Skolnik told ABC News, "I was terrified, because I was thinking I'm gonna be on the plane with the pig." A spokesperson for U.S. Airways' parent company American Airlines said that Boerner was asked to leave after the pig became disruptive.

In a Facebook post Victor Kinoian, animal breeder and owner of My Pet Piggy LLC, which sold Boerner her pig, wrote: "My customer was set up for failure by the airport and deserves an apology, and an apology to all the passengers on the plane for having poor regulation and lack of common sense."

According to the New York Post, federal rules drafted in 2012 allow "emotional support animals" –which can include monkeys, cats and pigs – onto planes. Pigs are considered by experts to make excellent service animals because they are highly intelligent and are great for people with allergies to dogs. BP