LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is reminding community members not to abandon their dogs at the airport.
This comes after a woman reportedly left her dog at a ticket counter at Harry Reid International Airport earlier this month.
Police said around 11:39 p.m. on Feb. 2, officers responded to Terminal 3 to reports of a dog tied to a metal carry-on baggage sizer.
The dog's owner reportedly still needed to complete online paperwork to travel with the dog as a service animal, and she was denied her boarding pass until that paperwork was complete.
Instead, police said, she left the dog at the JetBlue ticket counter and headed toward the departure gate.
Officers found her, and when they asked why she abandoned the dog, police said she said the airline wouldn't allow her to fly with him and claimed he had a tracking device.
"...implying it was acceptable to leave the animal behind and it would return to her," the release from LVMPD stated.
WATCH the video from the airport here, courtesy of LVMPD:
While she was escorted back through security, police said she became hostile and resisted the officers.
She was ultimately arrested on charges of animal abandonment and resisting arrest.
But what about the dog?
While the owner was being processed, officers and airport employees stepped in to care for the dog, which police identified as a golden doodle/mini poodle, roughly two to three years old.
Animal Protective Services took custody of him. The owner reportedly didn't return during the mandatory 10-day hold period, at which point Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas stepped in.
The dog — now affectionately named “Jet Blue” — is safe, in foster care, and will soon be placed in a new, loving home.
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