By Gina Holt
Enquirer contributor

A schnauzer who escaped from a travel kennel was shot as it ran across the runway at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Tuesday night.

The dog got out of its kennel, ran on the ramp and then out onto the runway about 5:20 p.m., said Ted Bushelman, director of communications for the airport.

"We did everything to try to catch him," he said. "He was running toward the runway. We just can't let it out on the runway. That was our heaviest time for take-offs."

Planes cannot take off when objects are on the runway because the engines tend to suck up everything around the plane.

"The headlines could have read: `Because airport police didn't shoot dog, 120 people died last night,' " Mr. Bushelman said.

"That's a sad situation," Nick Miller, spokesman for Comair said Thursday. "We're still trying to determine how the dog was able to get out of its kennel box."

He said the cause needs to be determined so that it doesn't happen again.

A Tennessee breeding service company flew the dog out of the Tri-City Airport in North East Tennessee.

"The animal had a final destination of Des Moines, Iowa," Mr. Miller said. "The dog was not with a family."