Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Blind and deaf pets can live happy, healthy, quality lives. In fact, sometimes it's hard to tell them from sighted pets. They do, though, have their own special needs.
Caspersmom
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Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Caspersmom »

Blind and deaf guinea pig battles bureaucracy to fly from Oz to Vancouver
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I'm a Canadian currently living in Port Hedland, Western Australia, and I'd like to move back to Vancouver with my lethal white deaf/blind guinea pig Casper. This is not as simple as it should be. I have been trying to do this for the past year, and have encountered a tangled web of bureaucracy between airlines and the Australian Civil Aviation Authority that has made it impossible for my pet to travel safely with me. Australia, Canada and the US have no objection to the export/import of my guinea pig.

The issue is with what my guinea pig needs to survive approximately 17 hours in her crate during transport. Guinea pigs have a digestive system similar to rabbits - they need to eat frequently and because of this, are not required to have food withheld before surgery like other animals. Some guinea pigs, like mine, do not drink water at all, but receive all their water from fresh vegetables and grass.

Australian Civil Aviation Authority rules restrict the carriage of animals in the cabin of commercial and private airlines: all animals must now fly in cargo. Because of the length of trip from Sydney to Vancouver, I must fly through Hawaii to ensure Casper'safety. If she was allowed in the cabin with me, with veggies identical to the salad I'd be eating in flight, this would be the ideal way to transport my pet.

It's been suggested that flight attendants on private jets like Gulfstreams may be able to take Casper on board as the cargo area in these planes is accessable from the interior of the plane (and very safe too). Please share Casper's story with your friends as I believe we should be able to find someway of flying Casper safely from Perth to Sydney to LA or SF or Honolulu to Vancouver. Maybe pigs can fly! :angel:

***
Casper is no ordinary guinea pig. Born blind, deaf and with severe dental issues, she is only one of a handful of living ‘lethal white’ guinea pigs in the world: most lethal whites die within hours of birth, hence the name. A true survivor at a year and half old, Casper may live another five years. And she needs a flight halfway across the world.

Now that her Canadian owner is moving from Port Hedland, Western Australia back to Vancouver, Canada, Casper needs a ride on board a plane in order to survive the transpacific trip. As Casper gets all her water from fresh vegetables and hand-feedings, she wouldn’t survive the 15-hour flight from Sydney to Vancouver direct, and must make a stopover in Hawaii.

“Casper is very special,” says her owner Jenn Ladd, “and not just because she’s beaten the odds to survive. I consider her the ‘Helen Keller’ of guinea pigs for her amazing ability to not only enjoy her life immensely, but to be able to communicate with me. Lethal whites tend to be very affectionate and cuddly, so she spends a lot of time on my lap. She nibbles on my finger when she needs to use her litter box. Even though she’s profoundly deaf, she makes all the right guinea pig noises at the right times.

“I’m like Helen Keller’s companion, Anne Sullivan, which is why re-homing Casper isn’t an option. She’s fed a pellet mush four times a day through a syringe, and her veggies are cut up in to thin narrow strips in order for her to slurp them up like spaghetti, as she can’t take bites. I’ve tried to have other people feed her but she just won’t eat for anyone but me.”

Casper’s dental bills have added up since she was born in March 2008, and she’s seen Perth veterinary dental specialist Dr. Elizabeth Vickridge monthly and sometimes even weekly for tooth trimmings and extractions. Guinea pigs’ teeth continually grow but grind down against each other to keep them neat and trim: Casper has only one front tooth, which needs to be trimmed, and molars that grow over and entrap her tongue, requiring shaving in order for Casper to eat properly.

“I’ve asked all the commercial airlines that fly out of Australia if they will consider allowing Casper on board in her small crate but none will. She’s only 950 grams, and travels in a small cat carrier that fits under an airline seat,” says Jenn. “My hope is that a commercial airline will make an exception, or a private airline can make space on board for me and Casper, or an airline and Customs will allow her to travel with her vegetables and hay. If I were Richard Branson, it wouldn’t be difficult to get Casper to Canada, but I’m just an ordinary person with an extraordinary pet.”

Lethal whites are the result of poor breeding practices by those who do not realize that crossing certain colours of guinea pigs (roans, dalmations etc.) could produce these severely disabled babies.

Join the cause ‘Fly Casper Home’ on Facebook http://www.causes.com/flycasperhome, and add Casper Ladd as a friend to see more photos and videos of this special guinea pig.

For more information on Lethal White guinea pigs:
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.guineapi ... -pigs.html
http://www.guinealynx.com

Email: FlyCasperHome@hotmail.com

Casper on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khqdxSqVGRo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut3XHxGERW8

Photos of Casper:
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GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily »

This is one of th most moving stories I have ever read! Your devotion moves me right across the room! You are BOTH amazing!

How old is Casper? Is he young? My son raised lots and lots of rodents, his favorite were rats, and their life span was about 3 years. His hamsters were a bit less. Our mice who lived more than a year, far exceeded what might be expected. I understand the red tape being this side of impossible. Could you do this in 'segments'? Would he be able to survive a long-term move? Slow but sure? Moving animals through customs is sooo hard, with quarantines and etc. Your journey is one for the record books!
Karen, Andy's ^i^ mom
Lethal White Aussies Rule!
INTERACTIVE RESCUE SITE!
http://www.s8.createphpbb.com/lethalwhiteauss/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LethalWhiteAussieRescue/
Caspersmom
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Caspersmom »

Thanks Karen! Casper was born March 13, 2008 - a normal lifespan for a guinea pig is 6-7 years. A few lethals have made it to 2-5 years but most die at birth. Casper has the potential to live another 3-4 years, if all goes well. There are five other known lethal white guinea pigs living in the world today - Silverado and Lily in California, Maddie in North Carolina, Fairy in England, and Krevic in Poland.

I plan on taking in the trip slowly, spending a few days to a week at least in each city to make sure Casper is strong enough for the next segment. We don't have to go through any quarantines luckily as Australia is rabies free, and there's no restrictions on the import of guinea pigs to the US or Canada from here.

I'm really scared for her to travel in cargo, so I'm trying to find flight attendants on private jets who could take her on board, and I would follow behind on a commercial flight - this was suggested to me by a flight attendant who says the cargo area on Gulfstream jets is accessible from onboard and really safe (she also said most flight attendants are huge animal lovers and would take really good care of her!).

I'm keeping everyone updated on our progress at http://www.causes.com/flycasperhome - I have lots of videos and photos of Casper here, and a few where you can see her zooming around her cage at full speed (and bonking her nose once in a while). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioWUXSsocso

We're doing the first flight from Port Hedland to Perth next Wednesday, which is only two hours - Casper has done this flight in cargo 3 times and is ok as long as no other animals are in cargo, as the smell of their fear freaks her out! (She has a very good nose as it's her main sense she uses to understand this world!) It will probably be a few more weeks before we leave Perth, to get the import certificates in place.
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critters
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by critters »

:red: This is certainly a first for HP! :mrgreen: Best of luck with this undertaking!!!
Christine
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Christine »

What a story!!! It is worthy of Animal Planet - have you been in touch with them?? If you could get through, what a story for them and you know they could help. Just a side note: Our Tessa lives in Perth.
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Caspersmom
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Caspersmom »

I just joined your forum so I don't know anyone here yet - I'll be moving down to Perth next week, and hopefully flying back to Canada within a few weeks.

I'm not sure how to get in touch with Animal Planet - I did look at their webpage but there was no contact info, just a place for filmakers to login. If anyone knows how to get in touch with them, that would be awesome! I've sent Casper's story everywhere I could think of, including Oprah, the Ellen Show... no luck.

Reading other posts on this forum, I had a realization: when I was 12, I went to buy my first dog, a collie puppy like Lassie (all my pets are rescues now but I didn't know any better then). I was shown the litter of pups but saw a much older mottled blue merle pup with a china eye cowering in another kennel and I insisted I wanted him, though the breeder and my dad tried to talk me out of it. Bo was the best dog ever. My next dog was another blue merle, an Aussie Shep X, Lola. Well, maybe she was the best dog ever! A few years before she died, I found a blue merle catahoula with one ice blue eye at the humane society - Solo is 9 now, and she is in the running to be the best dog ever (we're still a wee bit upset about the couch, loveseat and piano she ate 8 and a half years ago)... I've always had an affinity for these recessive genes that cause lethals it seems. I also always trained all my dogs with hand signals, just in case they were deaf (they were just ignoring me!) We now have 3 large dogs and 2 cats, all rescues, that will be flying back to Canada with us (two of the dogs and both cats came to Oz from Canada with us: we leave no pet behind when we move!)
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GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily »

Well, let me tell you about a transport that fell apart. The little lethal white was scheduled to be shot, because the rescue railroad from Wyoming to South Carolina was an unobtainable dream. It was an insurmountable transport for a 5 week old deaf and blind pup who had been left in the dirt outside, shunned by dogs and humans alike. Let me tell you about a miracle.
Somehow the breeder's wife FOUND ME in South Carolina, said will you take this puppy? I said sure, but HOW?? Transport coordinators with tremendous experience were unable to pull it off, it fell through, TRANSPORT CANCELLED. The most sickening words in the English Language. So the breeder said, that's it. You couldn't pull it off. He goes. Let me tell you about people all across this great land I live in. Peggy Jo drove him from Wyoming to Colorado where Sandy Dudly fostered him for a week. Money was raised by http://www.BlindDogs.com. Charmaine Fedick donated her frequent flyer miles. Sandy and Gabriel flew in COACH, he was under her seat, from Colorado to Savannah, GA, where I met them both at the airport. We had the entire airport in tears as we met for the first time. It was a miracle to beat all miracles. He arrived here in time to save MY life. There were no accidents in Gabriel's miracle save. GabrielDeafBlindPup went on, after saving my life, to becoming THE SPOKESPUP for LethalWhiteAussieRescue-Carolinas and BEYOND. That's what a little LethalWhite can do. Flat work miracles. I am living proof. He could not have survived if every single piece of that puzzle had not fallen into place JUST the way it did. Miracles happen every day.
Can't Casper fly in the coach with you? Under your seat in a soft 'crate' like Gabriel did?

http://www.handicappedpets.com/gallery/gab11/index.htm
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Gabriel in the dirt in Wyoming
Gabriel in the dirt in Wyoming
Karen, Andy's ^i^ mom
Lethal White Aussies Rule!
INTERACTIVE RESCUE SITE!
http://www.s8.createphpbb.com/lethalwhiteauss/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LethalWhiteAussieRescue/
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Christine »

Oh, Karen....what a precious baby he was!!!

Caspersmom: I did a search for "Animal Planet contacts" and came up with a whole page. These may or may not be the same ones you have come up with, but just in case there is something viable, here is the search page:

http://www.animalplanet.ca/Article.aspx?aid=19977

I love the videos of this little sweetie! Praying for the same set of miracles for him.
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Christine
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Christine »

Just had another idea. Have you contacted ARF? They might not fly in that area, but they might have some contacts or ideas:

Phone
559-225-5715

Mail
4545 East Dakota Ave.
Fresno, CA 93726
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tessa
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by tessa »

i was on a united flight last month...from chicago to frankfurt...and the person behind me had their cat under my seat.
so maybe try united. i do believe united flies out of sydney?

when i brought xena to perth...
i used a pet transport company.
they arranged everything. maybe try something like that?

port headland.
from one canadian to another...
what the?
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Christine »

How are things going?
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Christine »

I emailed Jenn asking about Casper. She has been having problems posting. Here is her reply:

"Hi Christine, I'm so glad you emailed me! I'm having problems getting back on to my thread - I can read it, but when I login to post a reply, it redirects me to a blank page - it's happened about 25 times! So I haven't been able to write anything there. If you join www.causes.com/ flycasperhome I post all the updates there. I've tried clearing my cache and history etc. with no luck.

The Animal Planet link you gave me didn't get me anywhere as they're not filming anything now it says (!!), I have a new pet transport company now that is being way more helpful, but Qantas is refusing to fly her - saying she's not healthy enough to fly (I'm sorry but handicapped does not equal not healthy) so we're trying Air Canada now. What's ironic is that Qantas has flown Casper 4 times now between Perth and Port Hedland - we just flew back to Perth today.

I'm also looking for flight attendants on private charter Gulfstream jets that would take Casper across the ocean in their cargo (which is accessible from on board and very safe).

Take care,
Jenn"
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Christine »

More conversation from this morning:


Hi Jenn,

Thanks for the update. I am passing on both the update and the problem with the board for you.

I was unable to read the rest of your Announcement. When I clicked on it to read More, it took me to an Alzheimer cause thread. Do you have to sign up for Facebook or request to be a Friend to read more?

Were you able to contact anyone at ARF? Do you think if you could provide documentation from a veterinarian that Casper is healthy, but needs the special circumstance for his safety, they might reconsider?

Christine

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Christine,
You probably have to sign up to facebook to read all of it. I'm a member of the Guinea Lynx forum, and I update there too on my thread about flying Casper home - http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46816 if you don't want to join facebook. It's a REALLY long thread as I started it in July of 08 but you can skip to the last page for all the updates.

I didn't try to contact ARF as I've tried to contact a lot of organizations in the US and they just don't care, so I've gotten a bit, I don't know, tired maybe of trying. They all say it's out of their jurisdiction, their area, etc.

I'm hoping I'll have better luck with this new pet transport company as the last one said Qantas refused to discuss the issue anymore, and JetPets refused to try anymore on our behalf. Casper would be checked by the Australian National Vet before flying anyways so I'm not sure why Qantas is using this as their excuse.

thanks again,
Jenn
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by puremutt »

what about BestFriends In Utah?
they rescue animals from all over the world, they must be familiar with transportation.
http://www.bestfriends.org/

give them a try!
mickey 1994- sept 26 ,2008


let all beings be happy
Caspersmom
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Re: Lethal White guinea pig needs flight from Oz to Canada

Post by Caspersmom »

I can write in my thread again! Thanks Christine for arranging that to be fixed.

I'll check BestFriends out, I think someone may have sent Casper's story to them already, but I'll follow up.
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