Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Atlanta, June 27, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A tiny turtle which measured almost two inches made an entire flight crew turn around a taxiing aircraft on Tuesday. Reportedly, the turtle happens to be a pet to a 10 year old girl, who was aboard the flight when the incident took place. After the aircraft was turned around, the Airtran Airways authorities informed the little girl and her sisters that they can’t board the plane with the turtle. Following the instructions of the authorities, the sisters went ahead to put the caged turtle in the trash cans and returned back to the plane.

However, Carley Helm who had given up all hopes of seeing her pet red ear slider again was reunited with her pet after two days. Carley Helm was headed to her home in Milwaukee from Atlanta where her father lives. She was accompanied by her sisters Annie and Rebecca, who told the media how they were asked to “get rid” of their pet Neytiri (named after princess Neytiri in the movie “Avatar”) before they were allowed to re-board the aircraft.

Following that Rebecca Helm made a call to her father and told him about the entire incident and the man drove his car back to the airport. The airport authorities said that the turtle wasn’t cited initially because the ramp supervisor had pulled it out of the trash cans and handed to over to a fellow crew member. Carley Helm’s mother reported Animal Rights Group PETA about the incident which has issued an official letter that have asked AirTran to launch an investigation. Airtran spokesman Christopher White told the media that the employees of AirTran never asked the sisters to put the turtle in the trash cans and said that it was their own decision.