A Pennsylvania nurse pleaded guilty to abandoning her French bulldog at the airport after learning she couldn’t take the pooch with her to Mexico on vacation.
Allison Lyn Gaiser, 46, confessed to ditching her brown and white French bulldog in the parking lot of Pittsburgh International Airport on August 4, 2023, as part of a plea deal that had animal cruelty and neglect charges dropped, according to court records obtained by The Smoking Gun.
Instead of facing jail time, Gaiser, a divorced mom of two, was fined $150 and ordered to pay about $350 in court costs, according to the report.
The registered nurse tried to bring her pup on her vacation to Mexico, but the animal was denied boarding because it did not meet the criteria for an emotional support animal.
Without having anywhere to board the dog, Gaiser was caught on surveillance video leaving her pet in its stroller in a short-term parking lot at the airport.
Authorities found the dog unattended about 40 minutes later, unharmed, and it ended up in a foster home.
Meanwhile, Gaiser was arrested upon her return from vacation, with authorities waiting for her at the airport when she arrived on August 10, 2023. They tracked her down using the pooch’s microchip.
When confronted, Gaiser admitted to leaving the dog behind after the airline refused to allow it on the plane, but said her mother was supposed to ask the airport to take the dog to a local pound, and that she would pick it up on her return.
She also showed investigators text messages with her mother, whom she asked to “call the airport and tell them to take the dog to the local pound and she would get him when she gets back.”
Her mother replied to the message by saying: “You will be arrested for dog abandonment,” and “You’re not above the law.”
