Dozens Of Puppies Were Found Dead On An International Flight To Toronto

Sometimes the news can just be way too sad. After a Ukraine International Airlines flight landed in Toronto, it was discovered that dozens of puppies on board the flight had died during the trip. Many more of them were seriously sick.

CBC News reports that the flight, which was carrying 500 French bulldog puppies arrived at Pearson International Airport on Saturday, June 13.

A spokesperson from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is responsible for animal importation as well, said in a statement that 38 of the animals were found dead upon inspection.

An investigation is currently underway into what happened, with CFIA officials saying that the results will determine what steps are taken next.

Ukraine International Airlines commented on the incident in a June 19 post to their Facebook page.

"Everyone at UIA offers its condolences for the tragic loss of animal life on our flight," it reads, "UIA is working with local authorities to determine what happened and to make any changes necessary to prevent such a situation from occurring again."

The airline had actually released a longer statement about the incident on Tuesday. However, it was deleted from their Facebook page. Global News was able to save a screenshot of it.

"For many years, our airline, just like other carriers, has been transporting animals for commercial purposes to other countries, including the USA and Canada," it read.

The statement also claimed that it never received any documentation from Canadian travel authorities or anyone at Pearson Airport that the animals had died during the flight.

Abby Lorenzen, who CBC News refers to as a "professional show dog handler," posted her firsthand account with the arrival of the flight at Pearson on Facebook.

"Those animals didn’t need to suffer like that . That airline should of never taken on so much live animals to begin with !!!!" she writes.

"The brokers knew they amount of Dogs on flight , the pet people there waiting had no idea the mass amount nor did their breeders myself or my friend until this flight landed and apparently Toronto and the agents didn’t know also."

Animal welfare groups have said that this is part of a larger problem involving dogs that are shipped internationally before being sold in North America, according to CBC News.

Cover photo used for illustrative purposes.