Pilots take dogs from crowded shelters to areas with demand

Out-of-state dogs find hope at local shelter

Every other week, van loads of pooches — of all breeds and sizes — greet not only local shelter volunteers but a second chance at life.

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington for the past couple of years has taken in nearly 1,000 dogs, many facing euthanasia, from adoption agencies across the country.

“Transports are great opportunities to give dogs a chance that they might not have otherwise,” the shelter’s vice president and director of operations, Lisa Feder, said in an email. “At the same time, we attract adopters to our facility and provide positive adoption experiences. We have more demand than supply, and the sending shelters have more supply than demand. So it’s a win-win on both sides.”

Approximately 15 to 20 dogs arrive every other week from partner organizations in states such as California and Hawaii.

The goal, however, is to do smaller, more frequent transports on a weekly basis, Feder said.

The shelter tends to take in out-of-state dogs that are small- or medium-sized, as well as some larger breeds, such as Labrador retrievers.

“We strive to have a diverse mix of dogs so that people have a choice when they want to adopt,” she said. “Primarily, people are looking for the medium-sized, fluffy dogs that are easy to fit into their lifestyle.”

So far this year, the shelter has received 260 transport dogs.

It typically costs between $300 and $500 per transport, if the dogs are coming from California. However, the majority of costs are incurred by the sending shelter and primarily covered through grant funding, Feder said.

The shelter has a partnership with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which gets dogs from the Los Angeles area and provides funding for transportation. Other rescue groups, such as California-based Unity Thrift & Outreach and Wings of Rescue, will make the arrangements and transport dogs. Sometimes the shelter will do the transport. There is also a mix of area municipal and nonprofit rescues that work together to help additional dogs.

Before the shelter agrees to take dogs from other states, it first looks to its Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland partners and local shelters.

“However, we have found that the local shelters have excellent adoption programs and don’t always need our help,” Feder said. “We are lucky in the Portland metro area that we have a 93 percent live release rate for dogs and cats, yet we still have a demand for more adoptable dogs.”

— Jessica Prokop

LOS ANGELES — For some dogs, a chance at the good life takes off when the pilots do.

Thousands of pooches facing euthanasia — some just hours from death — get loaded on planes each year and flown to new homes in places with shortages of adoptable pets. Groups such as California-based Wings of Rescue or South Carolina-based Pilots N Paws lead the charge, recruiting pilots to volunteer their planes, fuel and time in a trend that’s growing as more dogs end up in shelters and more people seek out canine love.

More than 4 million U.S. pets are euthanized every year. Both pilot groups encourage spaying and neutering as a solution but know that airlifts will increase every year as they become more visible and the number of needy dogs grows.

States such as California, Georgia and South Carolina typically have too many dogs in shelters, while places such as Washington, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Florida need more pets to satisfy demand. To solve the location conundrum, pilots fire up their engines.

In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, retirees want smaller dogs, which are easier to take care of but a tough find in the area with the high demand.

So, the Kootenai Humane Society orders a planeload of dogs under 16 pounds every month, or more than 1,000 animals in the last 16 months, Executive Director Debbie Jeffrey said.

“It’s just been a real success. As fast as they come in, they are adopted,” she said.

The successes increase as more pilots sign up.

“We have seen the number of animals rescued go up every year since we started in 2008,” said Kate Quinn, executive director of Pilots N Paws.

The group’s 5,000-plus pilots have flown more than 15,000 dogs to new homes each of the past two years, relocating more than 75,000 animals over the last seven years, she said. And the numbers keep rising.

“Pilots love a reason to fly. They love making these flights,” Quinn said, adding that all dogs have to be spayed or neutered, microchipped and vaccinated before they take off.

Yehuda Netanel, founder and president of Wings of Rescue, says business has doubled each of the past 4½ years. He started as the lone pilot who rescued 300 dogs, and now the group expects to fly 7,000 pets in 2015, he said.

Most dogs sleep during the flight, and only a few have had air sickness, said co-pilot Anj Garcia, who will take each one out of its crate and cuddle it during the journey.

The flights allowed Cathy Parker of Coeur d’Alene to find her dogs: Bella, a poodle-Chihuahua mix, and Sidney, a poodle-Pomeranian mix, who Wings of Rescue delivered from different shelters about nine months apart.

“They’ve been a real good match for each other and me,” she said.