diff --git a/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py b/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py
index f64ce76d..bc87fbd0 100644
--- a/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py
+++ b/bats_ai/core/management/commands/load_public_dataset.py
@@ -76,6 +76,17 @@ def _get_metadata(filename: str, line: dict[str, str]) -> dict[str, Any]:
     return metadata
 
 
+def _try_head_s3_object(s3_client, bucket: str, key: str) -> bool:
+    try:
+        s3_client.head_object(Bucket=bucket, Key=key)
+        return True
+    except ClientError as e:
+        error_code = e.response["Error"]["Code"]
+        if error_code in ["404", "NoSuchKey"]:
+            return False
+        raise
+
+
 def _try_start_spectrogram_generation(recording_id: int):
     metadata_filter = {
         "type": ProcessingTaskType.SPECTROGRAM_GENERATION.value,
@@ -126,6 +137,10 @@ def _ingest_files_from_manifest(
                     _try_start_spectrogram_generation(existing_recording.pk)
                     continue
                 logger.info("Ingesting %s...", s3_key)
+                object_exists = _try_head_s3_object(s3_client, bucket, s3_key)
+                if not object_exists:
+                    logger.warning("Could not HEAD object with key %s. Skipping...", s3_key)
+                    continue
                 filename = _create_filename(s3_key)
                 logger.info("Downloading to temporary file %s...", filename)
                 s3_client.download_file(bucket, s3_key, filename)
@@ -180,7 +195,9 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
     def add_arguments(self, parser):
         parser.add_argument(
-            "bucket", type=str, help="Name of a public S3 bucket where WAV files are stored"
+            "bucket",
+            type=str,
+            help="Name of a public S3 bucket where WAV files are stored",
         )
         parser.add_argument(
             "manifest",
@@ -194,10 +211,16 @@ def add_arguments(self, parser):
             help="Username of the owner of the recordings. (Defaults to first superuser)",
         )
         parser.add_argument(
-            "-p", "--public", action="store_true", help="Make imported recordings public"
+            "-p",
+            "--public",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="Make imported recordings public",
         )
         parser.add_argument(
-            "-l", "--limit", type=int, help="Limit the number of WAV files to be imported"
+            "-l",
+            "--limit",
+            type=int,
+            help="Limit the number of WAV files to be imported",
         )
         parser.add_argument(
             "--filekey",