Toronto resident Jena Butts said a dog she rescued from the Dominican Republic has been traumatized after being left in a corner of Toronto Pearson International Airport with baggage for about 21 hours. .Butts had spent three months in Puerto Plata, where she met stray dog Winston. She said she decided to bring the dog back to Canada and find him a proper home. .Butts, Winston, and her dog arrived at Pearson around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. Her dog came out of the luggage chute at 2 a.m., but Winston did not. .She spoke with airport employees, and they advised her to follow up with the airline later. .“I was very angry and I didn’t understand how nobody could be at the airport to help me find my dog,” she told CTV News Toronto. .“This is a living creature.”.Butts spent the rest of the morning trying to contact airline Air Transat to find out if he had made it to Toronto or if he was in Puerto Plata. .Customs officers spotted the crate surrounded by lost baggage at Pearson 21 hours later. .A customs agent broke Winston out of his crate to give him water, she said, and the dog was covered in urine. .“He’s very traumatized,” she said. .“I will definitely not be travelling with dogs for a while, now.”.Butts said she received an email from Air Transat service provider GTA dnata, apologizing for the incident and offering her a gift card as compensation. .“While there were reasons for the service failure that left you wondering about the whereabouts of your treasured pet, we can only assure you that we will take the necessary steps to ensure no other pet owner has to experience a similar situation,.” said GTA dnata CEO Antonio Alvarez. .“You entrusted them with your precious cargo and regrettably, we let you down.”.This incident comes after former NHL player Ryan Whitney shared the terrible experience he went through while going through Pearson airport in June..Whitney played for the Edmonton Oilers from 2009 to 2013 and was in Edmonton to watch Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche. .He started his Twitter rant on June 5 from Pearson, calling it “the biggest gong show in airport history.”
