Maria Fraterrigo, 81, had flown into Luis Manoz Marin International Airport in San Jose, Puerto Rico without an issue, but when she got to the gate she was told to “get rid” of her emotional support parrot, Plucky
A woman is stranded in Puerto Rico after she was banned from flying home with her emotional support parrot. Maria Fraterrigo. Maria Fraterrigo, 81, is unwilling to ship her feathered confidante, an African Gray Parrot called Plucky, so is now trapped in the Caribbean Island without an escape plan.
Speaking to ABC7, she said: “I got no more tears. My mind is blank. Just want to go home. That’s all; I don’t ask for much.” The bird, which weighs just 10 ounces, was safely transported to the island on the grandma’s flight from JFK International to Puerto Rico on January 4. During the flight, Plucky successfully boarded in a carrier approved by the US Transport Security Administration (TSA).
But after passing through security at San Jose’s Luis Manoz Marin International airport on April 5, she was turned away at the gate when a worker told her to “get rid” of the pet. This is despite it being approved as a service animal.
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Her son Robert Fraterrigo said she was told: “You won’t be able to make the flight. Get rid of your bird and give it to somebody.”
Frontier Airlines refused to help, Robert said, only offering a $190 refund and no solution for getting his elderly mother home.
“My mother did nothing wrong and she just needs to be taken care of and sent home,” the frustrated son said. “She didn’t want anything else but to go home and no one wants to help.”
Following the death of Maria’s husband, a retired NYPD court officer killed by a 9/11-related cancer, Maria has become increasingly attached to Plucky, which she describes as an emotional-support animal.
Before his passing, the couple often travelled to Puerto Rico together without a hitch. Maria said that the African Gray – which can talk and live for 50 years – “kept me going, talking to me, making me laugh when I was down.”
Meanwhile, a Frontier Airlines spokesperson said that they are working on finding a way of getting the elderly woman home to New York.
“We are currently investigating the matter and are in contact with her family to assist her in returning home,” they said.
Back in 2022, Philadelphia parkgoers were left rubbing their eyes after they spotted a girl walking her “emotional support” animal. Pennsylvanians trying to cool off in the fountains in their city centre were joined by an unlikely pet
The reptile, named Wally, was a five-foot pet alligator used as an ‘emotional support’ animal. LOVE Park, officially known as the John F Kennedy Plaza, was packed full of people in the city centre enjoying their afternoon.
But they could only stare as the alligator, wearing a harness and on a leash, was walked into the fountains and laid down on its belly to cool off..
The alligator was so friendly that it let random strangers not only pet it but pick it up and give it a cuddle.