Police say a poodle who survived being in a van at the Burlington International Airport parking garage for nearly three weeks was mistakenly left there.

The 12-year-old miniature poodle survived, although he lost half his body weight and endured subzero temperatures during the ordeal.

Police say the dog is in foster care and not available for adoption.

The dog was discovered after someone reported an odor coming from the vehicle on January 6th.

The dog's owner, 50-year-old Pascal Bellon of Frelighsburg, Quebec, was issued a ticket for cruelty to animals.

Police say Bellon has agreed to give up custody of the pet and cover veterinary bills for the dog's recovery.

Update 1/16/09:  Michou the miniature poodle scampers around a room at Burlington Police Department headquarters.  The 12-year-old dog, his eyes bright and his ears pricked, dashes through a row of tables and chairs with his caretaker a step or two behind.  He's come a long way.

Eight days earlier he could barely move, barely even lift his head. Michou's Canadian owner abandoned him for almost three weeks in a van parked at Burlington's airport during a trip. The owner left neither food nor water. Temperatures stayed icy. The poodle lost more than half his body weight. At the end of Michou's 19 days alone, a normal meal would have overwhelmed his starved digestive system and killed him.

The abandonment, officers say, seems inadvertent, though the owner, Pascal Bellon, was issued a ticket and gave up custody of the dog.

Michou's tale emerges as his savior, Animal Control Officer Jodi Harvey, swoops in to collect him in her arms. The charcoal, brown and white poodle looks a bit nervous and gives a small shiver, even though the room is warm. But he seems to smile at the news cameras and reporters who crowd close.

"All these people!" Harvey says in an I'm-talking-to-a-dog type of voice. "It's OK. It's OK. These people won't hurt you."

Michou's owner did, although apparently by accident, investigators say. Bellon, 50, of Frelighsburg, Quebec, pulled into Burlington International Airport's open-air parking garage Dec. 18, boarded a plane and took off on a trip that lasted until January 16th, police spokeswoman Lt. Jennifer Morrison says. Michou was in the vehicle, but Bellon didn't know that when he left.

Late Jan. 6, a traveler walking past the Volkswagen EuroVan noticed a stench wafting out and reported the smell to authorities. Awakened by an 11 p.m. phone call, Harvey hurried to the airport and was the first person to enter the locked van after officers forced open a door.

"It was unbearable," she says, recalling an interior soiled with excrement. "I wear a turtleneck, and I had to pull it up over my nose."  Michou lay on top of a blanket on one of the seats. The poodle hardly flinched.  "He was weak, barely able to raise his head," Harvey says. "My first thought was, 'I've got to get him to a veterinarian, and quick.'"

Emergency treatment included intravenous fluids and small bites of food. Michou, who weighed nearly 25 pounds before his ordeal, tipped the scale at 9 pounds. He's still thin, but he's recuperating.  "He's still considered critical, but we're hopeful," Harvey says. "He's been referred to as a miracle."

Police issued Bellon a ticket -- like a speeding offense -- on suspicion of cruelty to animals. He could pay a $100 fine to close the matter, or he could fight the charge in court. He also agreed to pay all of Michou's treatment bills and surrender the poodle into the care of a foster family.

Vermont law allows authorities to bring criminal cruelty charges, but prosecutors must be able to prove an intent to harm, which Bellon lacked, Morrison says. Bellon was unaware the dog was in the van, and his wife back home thought the animal was missing, police said.

"They have multiple pets, and this one became unaccounted for at some point, and they believed he had run off," Morrison says. "There's no indication this was anything but an accidental near-tragedy."

When the reporters and photographers finish with the canine celebrity, Harvey asks a college colleague whether she minds dog-sitting for a few minutes. "Oh, my God, no!" Peg Dumas exclaims as she wraps Michou in a blanket. The sitter nuzzles Michou and coos, "Oh, you look so much better now. Smell better, too!"

Reference:

Rutland Herald

Burlington Free Press

NH Union Leader