K-9sDeath of fourteen bomb dogs sparks $1 million lawsuit

Highly-trained K-9's also have a high dollar worth // Source: stripes.com

A firm that trains bomb sniffing dogs for law enforcement and military personnel is suing a transportation company for more than $1 million over the deaths of fourteen highly-trained canines bound for Afghanistan.

Last December American K-9 Detection Services shipped fourteen dogs to be deployed with American troops in Afghanistan, but the dogs never made it there.

The dogs were held overnight at the Animal Port Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport facility after it was not possible to send the animals on a same-day flight. An Animal Port Houston employee said the dogs would be housed in the company’s kennel and then taken to their flight the next day. The following morning agents for the dogs’ owners went to the shipping facility to find that all of the dogs had died when they were left unattended in an unventilated truck. Agents found traces of blood on the floor of the truck and some of the crates were damaged which suggested that the animals had desperately tried to escape.

American K-9 attempted to settle the matter out of court, asking for $1.3 million in damages and $30,000 in legal fees from Live Animal Transportation Services, the firm which handled the dogs at Animal Port Houston.

An agreement was not reached and the case is now proceeding to court.