"Hello, sir. According to civil aviation regulations, pets traveling by plane must be checked in. They can be transported as checked baggage in the aircraft's pressurized cargo hold. The small animals our airline accepts for transport are domesticated dogs, cats, birds, or other household pets. Wild animals, unusually shaped animals, or animals prone to injuring people, such as snakes, cannot be transported as baggage, but they can be shipped as cargo. Furthermore, we generally do not transport animals that are pregnant, nursing, or have given birth within the last 48 hours." The customer service representative was clearly very experienced, rattling off the procedure smoothly.
