This weekend five dogs from the St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter hopped on a private flight to Delaware to be adopted by local families there, all thanks to the shelter’s collaboration with Wings of Rescue.
Wings of Rescue, a 501(c)3 charity founded in 2012, flies endangered pets from high-intake and/or high-kill shelters to no-kill shelters. From there the animals are adopted into loving homes.
To date, the organization has conducted 99 flights and carried 7,161 pets – 4,868 dogs, 2,276 cats, 13 pot-bellied pigs, three rabbits and one cockatoo – to safety.
On Saturday Wings of Rescue organized an emergency evacuation flight of animal shelters in the New Orleans area, including St. Charles Parish. More than 100 at-risk shelter dogs from Louisiana will be flown to New Castle, Delaware where they will be received by Brandywine Valley SPCA. The flight is supported by Best Friends Animal Society and Colonial Hyundai.
“We began our work with Wings of Rescue a year and a half ago,” St Charles Parish Animal Shelter Supervisor Dr. Jena Troxler said. “We became partners and achieved ASPCA certification, which allowed us to join in on $22,000 flights every other week.”
Participating shelters are charged nothing for the flights.
“It’s an amazing, life-saving opportunity to keep our shelter residents physically and mentally healthy by staying with us less than two weeks to find homes,” Troxler said. “Our sister shelters adopt them in an average of two days. The last flight had a two-and-a-half-hour line of people waiting to adopt.”
Wings of Rescue organizers said all dogs on the flights are all fully vetted and health certificated. The dogs will go to the BVSPCA New Castle Campus, where they will be evaluated and receive any follow-up medical assistance needed.
“Wings of Rescue is elated to fly over 100 dogs who faced uncertain and perilous futures in overcrowded Louisiana shelters to one of the most progressive pet friendly communities in the United States,” Ric Browde, president and CEO of Wings of Rescue, said.
In shelters across the country, highly adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized due to shelter overcrowding. Wings of Rescue’s goal is to save homeless pets by flying them to shelters where they are immediately adopted. No local shelter pets are displaced by the flights.
Other Louisiana shelters participating in the flight are those in Tangipahoa Parish, CARA’s House, Ouachita Parish, Lafourche Parish, Washington Parish, Jefferson Davis Parish and St. Tammany Parish.
For more information, visit www.wingsofrescue.org.
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