/ • 

'^' THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION •A^?3O0RTAT!0^^ 

S WASHINGTON, D.C. 20590 ••''-f OPERATIONS 

^'^^TJ?^'^" October 12,2010 . . ^SJ'^'8 P '?: 2 2 

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin 

United States Senate 

Washington. DC 20510 

Dear Senator Durbin: 

Thank you for your letter, cosigned by Senator Robert Menendez and Senator Joseph Liebemian, 

expressing your concern that the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) regulation that 

requires reporting of the loss, injury, or death of animals in air transport applies only to family 

pets. You urged the Department to amend this regulation so that airlines are required to report 

all incidents involving the loss, injury, or death of cats and dogs that occur while they are 

traveling in the airline's care, custody, or control, whether the cat or dog is being shipped as a pet 

by its owner or as part of a commercial shipment. TTie Department is committed to thoroughly 

examining its animal reporting regulation, and we will be seeking comment on the issues that 

you raise in a Federal Register notice. 

In addition to your letter, the Department recently received a petition for rulemaking on this 

matter from the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), an advocacy group which works to protect 

the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. In its petition, ALDF 

requests that the Department's regulation requiring the reporting of loss, injury, or death of 

animals in air transport be revised to require airlines to report any such incident involving 

animals they carry. It contends that the data that are currently collected by the Department 

capture only incidents affecting pets, even though pets make up part of the total number of 

animals transported by airlines. The ALDF's proposal would also expand reporting to all species 

of animals, rather than the current reporting, which is limited to cats and dogs. 

In light of your letter and the ALDF petition, we have decided to issue a notice in the Federal 

Register seeking comment on the petition and asking questions regarding the current animal 

reporting rule. This includes questions on whether the regulation should remain as is and cover 

only household pets, or be expanded to certain types of animals (e.g., cats and dogs) regardless 

of whether they are pets being shipped by their owners or part of commercial shipments, or cover 

all animals shipped by air carriers. We also will be looking further into our statutory authority in 

this area, both our authority pursuant to 49 U.S.C. §41721. which requires airlines to submit 

monthly reports to DOT on incidents involving the loss, injury, or death of an animal transported 

by air, and our authority under 49 U.S.C. §41702. which requires airlines to provide safe and 

adequate transportation. 
y 

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The Honorable Richard J. Durbin 

Finally, I appreciate your recognition of the Department's work in this area and am pleased that 

you found our July report on the risks to short-nosed breeds during air travel to be helpful. 

A similar letter has been sent to Senator Menendez and Senator Liebemian. A copy of this 

correspondence will be placed in the ALDF petition for rulemaking docket. For your reference, 

the docket number is DOT-OST-20IO-02h If I can Qi^vide further information or assistance, 

please feel free to call me.