Airlines refuse seat to man with dog trying to flee Hurricane Irma -- so he's forced to ride out the storm

The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act was passed in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina because thousands of residents refused to leave their pets and evacuate New Orleans.

While about 1.2 million people escaped the city before Katrina made landfall and the levees broke, a full 100,000 people did not leave the city. Of those, 44 percent said that it was because they didn't want to leave their animals, CNN reported.

Yet, when one man camped out in line at the Miami airport for hours with his dog Mika. While he was willing to pay top-dollar to escape the area, they refused to let him on board without his dog being in a carrier.

"I'm heading back to Kendall [Florida]," he told CNN in an interview. "Just ride out the storm."

He said he refused to leave Mika behind.

Only about 15,000 animals made it back to their owners after Katrina, while nearly 90,000 pets were never found. Some reports estimate as many as 600,000 animals died or were abandoned without shelter as a result of the storm.

Watch the interview below:

Airlines refuse seat to man with dog trying to...by sarahburris