Maia, the dog who escaped the world's busiest airport, found hiding 24 days later

Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read
22

After 24 days of hiding, an international traveler's dog lost at Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport last month was found over the weekend at the busy airport.

"Maia, the dog who escaped onto the airfield at the world’s busiest airport, was recovered on September 9," airport officials posted on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter.

Officials said the airports operations team found the missing dog hiding near the North Cargo facilities.

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Taken to a local vet

The airline provided a photo of Maia inside a pet crate, showing the small black and while dog with brown eyes in seemingly good condition, peering out of it with a collar on.

"Tired but in apparent good health, she was transported to a vet and is expected to return home soon," the post read.

An international traveler's dog named Maia, lost at Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport airport last month, was found over the weekend at the busy airport. Delta Air Lines opened a lost pet case last month.
An international traveler's dog named Maia, lost at Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport airport last month, was found over the weekend at the busy airport. Delta Air Lines opened a lost pet case last month.

Turned away at customs

Maia's owner, Paula Rodriguez, could not immediately be reached by USA TODAY.

Her dog disappeared Aug. 18 after Rodriguez told CNN she was en route from the Dominican Republic to California via Atlanta but was turned away at customs. Rodriguez said she was held in detention awaiting a return flight, but her dog, flying with her in the cabin, was "not allowed to join her in the detention facility."

While her owner was detained, Maia apparently escaped her carrier.

“I’m in agony,” she told CNN last month. “I’ve been living a nightmare … knowing my baby is out there somewhere scared, or might be injured... Every minute feels like a day.”

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An opened investigation

After Maia went missing, Delta opened an internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding how the dog was able to escape from her carrier.

USA TODAY has reached out to Delta for additional comment.

Last year, Atlanta took the No. 1 spot on the annual list of busiest airports in the world, just ahead of Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport in Texas. The information was compiled and released by Airports Council International (ACI) World.

Contributing: Zach Winter

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maia, dog found at Atlanta airport, went missing while traveling Delta