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Clues emerge in show dog's escape

BY MATT FRIEDMAN | STAFF WRITER

February 20, 2006

A broken latch apparently allowed Vivi, the missing show dog, to flee her travel carrier on Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

"It looked like the spring on the latch was broken," said Paul Lepiane, Vivi's co-owner and handler. "When we checked it in it was fine."

The spring, which appeared sheared, should have been attached to a missing locking mechanism. How the mechanism fell off is unclear. Lepiane believes that a suitcase may have hit the carrier or it might have fallen off of something, but he said he can't be sure.

"Who knows what happened?" said Lepiane. "But something happened to that latch."

But Lepiane doesn't want to play the blame game yet.

"We're all just focusing on finding her," said Lepiane. "We're going to worry about dealing with Delta and placing blame after we find her."

Delta Airlines officials said that they are conducting an investigation into the incident, but would not comment any futher.

"Delta is working with the family through this unfortunate situation," said spokesman Jeff Kosmerl.

But the airline hasn't been very accommodating, says Jil Walton, Vivi's other owner, who's returned to California. She didn't hear from them until the day after Vivi escaped, though they did put her up in a complimentary hotel room after Vivi went missing. But she doesn't want to spend too much time airing grievances right now.

"That takes a lot of energy," said Walton. "And just doing this part is taking everything I've got."

Traps baited with dog food have been placed around the airport by Mike Pastore, director of field operations for New York City Animal Care and Control, and Lepiane has been scouring the vicinity of the airport with groups of volunteers all week. He hopes that she's found shelter in one of the airport's buildings and that she'll be spotted when she emerges for a drink of water or something to eat.

"Inside they're all heated. She'll would be very comfortable if she got into one of those," said Lepiane.