Woman arrested after ‘abandoning puppy at airport because she couldn’t take him on a flight’
A woman has been arrested after allegedly dumping her puppy inside a Nevada airport terminal when staff told her he couldn’t board the flight, police have said.
Germiran Bryson, 26, arrived at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas earlier this month and tried to board at JetBlue flight at around 11.30pm.
However, the ticket desk agents told her she wouldn’t be able to board the plane as she had not filled in the correct paperwork to take her dog, a two-year-old Golden Doodle, onboard as a ‘service dog’.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said she then tied the dog, a goldendoodle, to a metal carry-on baggage sizer and walked off towards the departure gate, leaving him there.
Officers later found her and asked her why she abandoned the dog. According to the police, she stated the airline would not allow her to fly with it and claimed the dog had a tracking device.
They then tried to take her back to the security check point, but she became ‘hostile’ and resisted being detained, so they arrested her.
She has been charged with animal abandonment and resisting arrest.
The department posted footage on X of her heading to the ticket counter with the lead in her hand, as her little pup ran circles around her, tail wagging in oblivious excitement.
After trading words with the attendant, Bryson is seen walking off with her luggage and leaving the dog behind, according to the footage.
Airport staff are then seen coming over, with one employee kneeling down and giving the dog a pet.
Las Vegas police also released bodycam footage showing Bryson trying to get through Gate D1, where officers immediately confronted her.
‘I’m going to throw my bags down because I’m exhausted,’ she told the officers.
One officer told Bryson: ‘No, what we’re gonna do is walk you back to where your dog’s at and give you a citation, because you left your dog at the ticket counter.’
She became defensive, insisting she was merely trying to ‘rebook her flight,’ but police pressed her once again on why she’d left her dog behind.
In an apparent attempt to shift blame, Bryson told authorities she was just following what airport staff had told her to do at the counter.
The officer then replied: ‘To walk out here without your dog?!’
The dog, who has now been named JetBlue, was taken in by Animal Protective Services. After she didn’t come back to collect him, adoption charity Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas is now looking after him and is hoping to find him a new owner soon.
In a statement published overnight, the shelter said they had received several calls, messages and applications from people wanting to adopt Jet Blue,
They added: ‘He has received so many applications & inquiries. We only have one JetBlue… but we have many other amazing dogs just like him who are also waiting for their second chance. If your heart was moved by his story, we hope you’ll consider one of them too.
‘This sweet boy is incredible. Truly incredible. And after everything he’s been through, the thought of him ever experiencing abandonment again has us on very high alert.
‘We will be extremely intentional in choosing his forever family. He deserves stability. Security. Commitment. A lifetime promise.’
They added: ‘We also want to publicly thank the incredible people who stepped in immediately: The amazing JetBlue ticket counter employees.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.