Owner of dog that died on Delta jet wants answers

The owners of a dog that died in the cargo hold of a Delta Air Lines aircraft are demanding to know what happened.

Alejandro, an 8-year-old Pomeranian, was expected to arrive at Newark Liberty Airport Thursday at 10:20 a.m. Instead, his owner received a call that his dog was still in Detroit but dead. Michael Dellegrazie, of Staten Island, said the news was tough on everybody.

Dellegrazie's girlfriend shipped Alejandro on a Delta flight from Phoenix. the dog would have a two-hour layover in Detroit and then land in Newark. but Alejandro died while in Detroit. Dellegrazie said the crew check on the dog at 6:30 a.m. and he was fine. But when they went to put the dog on the connecting flight two hours later, he wasn't moving.

Dellegrazie said the dog got a clean bill of health from a vet two days before the flight. He and his lawyer went to Detroit to claim Alejandro and bring him home. Both said Delta made it difficult.

Dellegrazie's lawyer, Evan Oshan, investigated Alejandro's crate right before calling the police to investigate. Oshan said the dog and the carrier were in a garbage bag and a bloody blanket was in another garbage bag.

Both Dellegrazie and Oshan said they haven't heard from Delta.

But Fox 5 has.

"Delta is conducting a thorough review of the situation to ensure this does not happen again and have been working directly with Alejandro's family to support them however we can," Delta said in a statement. "As part of that review, Delta offered to have Alejandro evaluated by a veterinarian while in our possession to find out more about why this may have occurred."

A necropsy is scheduled for Friday. Results will take a few weeks.