ohmidog!

When Lynn Jones, a baggage handler at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, pointed out the condition of a bloody and emaciated dog scheduled to be shipped to Texas, her boss told her to forget about it.

When she persisted, insisting the pointer needed help and would likely die in flight, she was fired.

Yesterday, her employer, Airport Terminal Services Inc., based in St. Louis, said she would be reinstated, with back pay.

Sally Leible, president of the firm, said Jones actions were courageous and the reaction of some management employees was regrettable. She told the Reno Gazette Journal the incident will be used as “teachable moment” for employees.

On Nov. 15, Jones raised enough of a stink about the suffering dog to get airport police to call Washoe County Regional Animal Services, which took custody of the pointer and provided it with veterinary care. The dog apparently was later shipped to its Texas owner, a hunter who keeps it in a kennel and has it shipped to the places he hunts.

The listless and sore-covered dog was lying in a pet carrier in the cargo area of the airport when Jones first saw it.

“The dog was so weak and torn up. It didn’t look like it could survive the flight,” she told the Gazette Journal.

Jones said her supervisor told her to load the dog on the plane because the animal’s paperwork was in order and its condition wasn’t her concern.

“I was crying,” she said. “I kept saying that dog could not be put on a plane.” She said she was fired on the spot by the supervisor, who yelled “‘That’s it, you’re done, you are out of here, go home.”

Jones is a former blackjack dealer, has three dogs of her own, and once  owned a dog grooming service. Even before getting her job back, she said she didn’t regret having taken a stand.

“I loved my job at the airport,” she said. ” … But I just couldn’t turn my back on that dog … My supervisor said it wasn’t my concern, but animal abuse is everyone’s concern who sees it.”

(Photo: Lynn Jones with her three dogs, Junior, Manny and Jewel, from left; by Marilyn Newton / Reno Gazette Journal)