Summary: A would-be world record setting bunny mysteriously died on a United Airlines flight.
Is United Airlines trying to be the world’s most hated airline? After the video of a doctor getting dragged off a plane went viral, Americans quickly condemned the company and its seemingly unapologetic stance about the incident. However, now the hatred for United may go global after a prized bunny mysteriously died while in cargo.
The bunny rabbit’s name was Simon, and he was three foot long and reportedly was going to grow to become the world’s biggest rabbit ever. He was on Flight 767 from Heathrow to O’Hare in cargo, on route to his new American owner. His breeder Annette Edwards said that Simon was in perfect health when she brought him to the airport, and she said that there was nothing common about the animal’s death.
“He was fit as a fiddle,” Edwards said to The Sun. “I’ve sent rabbits around the world, nothing like this happened.”
Edwards said that a vet had checked Simon three hours before the flight, and that the U.S. client who had purchased the giant bunny was “upset” by the news.
The death of Simon adds more to the troubled company’s public image. Earlier this month, a video spread online of police officers pulling Dr. David Dao out of his seat before dragging him off the plane, his belly hanging out and his head bloodied from the injuries he obtained during the removal.
United said that they had overbooked Dao’s flight and needed seats for employees and that they could not get people to voluntarily do so. Because no one would volunteer, United said it randomly chose Dao to exit the plane, but he refused because he said he had to see patients the next day. That’s when United used force, and fellow passengers videotaped the ordeal from various angles.
The content of the video was shocking enough, but United’s defense of their actions was even more surprising. Initially, they tried to explain away what happened, and United CEO Oscar Munoz even sent out a company email that supported removing Dao who he described as “belligerent.”
Shortly after Dao’s removal and Munoz’s statement, the company stock plummeted, and United has since issued an apology, which many say is too little too late.
Dao has since hired Chicago attorney, Thomas Demetrio, to help him file a lawsuit, and although it has not been said yet how much they are asking for, experts predict Dao could be paid millions.
In addition to the bunny and the Dao scandals, United has also gotten a bad rap this month for other incidents, which include a scorpion falling from the overhead bin onto a passenger and flight attendants kicking off a couple who needed to get to their wedding destination.
With all the bad PR United is experiencing, Simon’s death surely made them hopping scared.
“After the viral video no one wanted responsibility for killing what was to be the world’s biggest rabbit,” a United employee told Fox News.
Simon’s breeder Edwards has already said that she is considering a lawsuit, and United told Fox News that it is conducting an investigation into the rabbit’s death.
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Photo courtesy of The Sun