A dog owner is now at ease after her pet, which had been missing for nearly a month, was found safely in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport last Saturday.
Announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, the airport operations team located the small 6-year-old dog, Maia, hiding near the North Cargo facilities. She was tired but appeared to be in good health.
Fortunately, the dog was taken to the vet and will return home soon.
The whole ordeal took on a life of its own when Maia got lost on Aug. 18 at the airport when traveling with its owner, Delta Airlines passenger Paula Rodriguez, from their home in the Dominican Republic to California for a two-week vacation.
When Rodriguez landed in Atlanta for a layover, she was informed by border patrol staff that her tourist visa didn’t meet the necessary requirements. Her visa was then canceled, and she was told she would need to return home on the next flight.
Rodriguez had to spend the night alone in a detention center and was separated from her dog.
“They called a Delta agent, who took Maia from me,” Rodriguez said to CNN.
The dog was in a pet carrier and was placed under the seat in front of Rodriguez, but customs have a policy of turning away those flying into the country if a cabin pet is present, WSBTV reported.
The next day, Rodriguez arrived at her flight gate early and expected to be reunited with her dog, but Maia was never there. Due to Rodriguez not being able to remain in the U.S. without a visa, she was faced with the agonizing decision of having to travel back to the Dominican Republic without her dog.
“Everyone who knows me knows what she means to me,” Rodriguez told CNN of her pet. “I don’t go anywhere without her. She’s so well-behaved that I take her to restaurants, literally everywhere. She’s my partner in everything.”
Two days after Maia vanished, Rodriguez was contacted by a Delta representative who told her that while the dog was being transported to the plane, she escaped when staff opened the cage, running into the middle of the runway, WSBTV and CNN reported.
Rodriguez placed multiple calls to Delta for possible updates but was left wondering for weeks on end.
Meanwhile, to ease some of the anxiety, Rodriguez and her family set up a GoFundMe, which raised $6,808 as of Monday morning. The goal was to raise $15,000.
At the time, a Delta spokesperson sent a statement to CNN, stating, “Delta teams have been working to locate and reunite this pet with the customer and we remain in touch with the customer to provide updates. Delta people feel deeply concerned for the customer and the dog and we’re committed to ongoing search efforts, working closely with the City of Atlanta Department of Aviation and other stakeholders.”
Delta Airlines and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals both worked to help reunite Rodriguez with her small dog and PETA even offered a $5,000 reward for whoever found her, WSBTV reported.
After a hellish search of the 4,000-acres of Hartsfield-Jackson airport, which Rodriguez’s mother flew to be part of, Maia was finally found three weeks after her disappearance, safe and sound.
Right now, it’s unclear whether the reward was or will be paid out.
