United Airlines is embroiled in another controversy and the Twitterverse is quick to gang up on the embattled company. The airline company is investigating the death of a giant rabbit during one of its trans-Atlantic flights.
Simon, a 10-month old continental bunny who's primed to take the world record for biggest rabbit ever, was found dead in the pet compartment of a United Airlines plane. Simon, who was traveling with his owner and popular breeder, Annette Edwards, was on the flight from London Heathrow to the Chicago O'Hare Airport. Apparently, the giant rabbit was bought by a certain celebrity who she failed to identify.
According to Edwards, Simon was given a clean bill of health by a veterinarian in London prior to the trip. She also shared that United Airlines is already investigating the case and looking at CCTV images to see what might have happened to the celebrity animal to cause its untimely demise. United has already issued a statement saying that the company is "saddened" by Simon's death and that it has kept in touch with Edwards since. The company also reiterated that it considers the "safety and wellbeing of all animals that travel with [United Airlines] of utmost importance".
Of course, Twitter will not have any of that. One person tweeted that "maybe the giant rabbit wouldn't give up his seat" while another warned United not to "sell Santa Claus a ticket this December [as] we saw what happened to the Easter Bunny". Another Twitter user poked fun at United's PR Department saying it is "digging into bunny's past for defaming stories" which may be in relation to degrading stories that were reported about David Dao, the doctor yanked off a United flight before take-off.
Dao was violently taken off a United flight after the airline overbooked and needed volunteers to disembark to make way for United employees. Airport security was filmed dragging the bloodied doctor, who needed to go home to see patients early the next day, through the aisle before being led out of the plane.
Simon is the son of Darius, the current world record holder as the largest rabbit today. As mentioned, the late Simon was expected to outgrow his father. He measured 3-foot long at the time of his death allegedly while on board the United Airlines flight.
