Paralyzed Dog Stranded In Quarantine At JFK Airport Likely To Be Euthanized

KEY POINTS

The border collie-mix, named Berry, is "fully vaccinated, healthy but paralyzed"
The pooch is stuck at the airport’s animal care facility without proper care
The person with Berry’s responsible had abandoned it
He left in the care of the Royal Jordanian Airlines

A paralyzed rescue dog flown from Jordan to New York was placed in quarantine for three days because officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrongly assumed it to be sick. The dog is likely to be euthanized.

The border collie-mix, named Berry, arrived in New York Monday, where airport CDC workers refused to release it, Meredith Festa, President of New York-based non-profit Paws Unite, told the New York Post.

"She’s scared and she can’t walk and she’s sitting in her own pee thinking, 'Where are all the people that cared for me?'" Festa said of Berry. "It doesn’t sit right in my stomach."

Festa and other animal advocates told the New York Post that the airport CDC workers ordered Berry be quarantined for 28 days looking at its disability and after a typo in its rabies paperwork got them to think it may cause a public health risk. The person who transported Berry had abandoned it in view of the strict airport rules, leaving it in the possession of Royal Jordanian Airlines, according to the New York Post.

The airline must decide by Friday whether to euthanize it or send it off to a CDC-approved quarantine facility, while Paws Unite has offered to assume financial responsibility for Berry. Festa said the disabled pup, which might have been struck by a car or beaten in its homeland, was being deprived of proper care at the airport’s animal care facility.

"The airline decides whether she lives or dies," Festa told the publication. "I don’t think she should have been flown thousands of miles to die."

Meanwhile, Kris Kelly Foundation, a California-based non-profit, posted a message on Instagram from Lara Abdallat, an animal rights advocate and former Miss Arab, claiming the CDC diagnosis to be untrue. Abdallat said all papers for Berry are "verified and certified" and that it is "fully vaccinated, healthy but paralyzed."

She said CDC told them they wanted to run a test and also put the dog in quarantine for at least 4-6 months, which is beyond the capacity of the airport facility. Hence, they said they were left with the only option of euthanizing it.