It's a terribly sad story. A family traveling with their pet dog is told by a United flight attendant to put the animal in an overhead compartment for the duration of the trip. When they land, they find the dog has died due to lack of oxygen in such a confined space.

There are so many things that went wrong here--from a flight attendant making an incredibly stupid decision, to the pet owners following directions without questioning how this could possibly be safe for their animal. 

But what's even worse is there was a planeload full of passengers who saw this happen, heard the dog bark in the overhear compartment for part of the flight (and then eerily heard it stop barking), and NO ONE SPOKE UP.

People make bad decisions. Mistakes happen. But there is no excuse for the fact that not a single person on that plane took the initiative to speak up when they saw this happen. Edmond Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." In this case, it was stupidity that triumphed when good people did nothing.

A poor defenseless animal--a child's favorite companion--died because no one said anything. In other situations, it might be human lives that are at stake. 

The onus is upon us: If you see something, say something.

We hear so many stories about how dogs use their animal instincts to save their humans. What a shame that not a single person on that plane could follow their own instincts to save that dog.

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