More than 2m live animals are transported by air every year in America.
Those going through John F. Kennedy Airport in New York have the best of it, thanks to the Ark, which claims to be America’s first 24-hour privately-owned airport terminal for animals.
So far it has hosted dogs, horses, cats, baby goats, parrots and a giant rat. Penguins and other water fowl have a bed-sized water basin and a frozen floor.
Italian opera, usually Luciano Pavarotti, is piped into the Ark’s equine centre. The handlers say the music has a calming effect on the horses as they await departure for racing, dressage, show-jumping and polo events.
Meanwhile humans tread through security and then board planes with narrower seats and less legroom than they had in the 1970s.
From The Economist
