Woman Tries to Mail Puppy
LEMON: Now the Minnesota lady who tried to mail a puppy. Listen to her try to blame the post office. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos</s>JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pets are mighty cute in a box, or even with their head in a box.</s>MOOS: But who would put a pup in a box, take him to the post office and try to mail him from Minneapolis to Georgia?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was mailed priority mail.</s>MOOS: Stacey Champion's priority was to mail a puppy to her son for his birthday.</s>STACEY CHAMPION, MAILED PUPPY: I wanted to surprise him really, really good, by a poodle.</s>MOOS: Instead, she surprised post office workers last month when her package started to move and they heard panting. (on camera): At one point, post office workers called the postal inspectors for guidance and held the phone up to the box so he could hear the panting inside. Worried that the breathing was becoming less frequent, he ordered workers to open the box. (voice-over): Champion admitted lying to the postal clerk.</s>FABRIAN HOFFNER, HEARING OFFICER: Did you say it was a toy robot to the postal clerk?</s>CHAMPION: Yes, she kept throwing the box around. She kept throwing the box around. So I just told her it was a toy robot.</s>MOOS: Champion spoke at a hearing held so she could ask to get the pup back, plus a refund of the $22 she paid for postage. The poodle-schnauzer mix, the main guest, was taken to animal control after Champion was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.</s>CHAMPION: They don't have a display of what should be shipped or what should not be shipped.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We always ask you, is it perishable.</s>MOOS: The post office inspector figures the pup would have perished during the three-day trip, either suffocating or freezing in the unpressurized hold of an airplane. Champion did poke air holes in the box, decorated with fake money, but tape sealed the holes shut. The hearing officer ruled the pup stays put at the animal shelter.</s>HOFFNER: Disgraceful. You cannot tell me that you thought you were doing the right thing.</s>MOOS: Maybe she thought her son would be opening a box in a happy scene like the ones on YouTube.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I got a puppy.</s>MOOS: This puppy will be put up for adoption. He has plenty of offers, if Champion can't afford to board him till the animal cruelty charges are resolved.</s>HOFFNER: You know you did wrong?</s>MOOS: Next time, keep the dog on the stamp. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.