Monday, December 1, 2008

Fly Me Away

I don't care what talent you have it can make a huge difference in the life's of others if you open your heart. Have you heard about the pilots who fly dogs on the verge of being euthanized in shelters ? DO YOU KNOW THAT BETWEEN 4 AND 6 MILLION ANIMALS A YEAR WILL BE EUTHANIZED IN U.S. SHELTERS ??? There is one group out there called Pilots N Paws that was co foundered by Jon Wehrenberg of Knoxville, Tennessee. This compassionate man saw the need for dogs in overcrowded shelters to be flown to rescuers and animal shelters. He rescues dogs that are next in line to be killed and finds rescue groups to fly them to. The rescue groups then foster the dogs until they can find them permanent, loving homes. He has over 85 pilots who have signed on to help him. He has saved over 200 dogs to date by flying them to safety and eventually loving forever homes. There are way too many high kill shelters in the United States and way too many people who are dumping dogs off at them because they become inconvenient. I realize there are some situations that are beyond the owners control but the majority of the time that is not the case. Most people like my family weren't aware that many
many animal shelters have to euthanize 70% of the dogs
that come to their facility. These are loving, wonderful pets who often were purchased without any fault of their own by owners who gave them up. Maybe they didn't have time for them, get transferred with their job and can't move the animal with them, have a baby and no longer have time for the pet and don't have the time they thought they did to take care of a dog. Some of these dogs were purchased by college students who find out they can't handle the responsibility of raising a dog etc... So many reasons out of the control of the pet and they wind up at a shelter that isn't a no-kill one. This organization just helped out Knoxville-Williams Animal Center which receives around 17,000 animals a year and has to euthanize 70% of them. Xan Rawls is the operations director of Young-Williams Animal Center and is thrilled for every animal she can find a loving home for. She goes out of her way to work with Pilots N Paws. They simple struggle to find homes for all the animals they take in. Pilots N Paws has a web based message board about animals in need if you've got a minute to check them out. Won't you consider buying a dog from a shelter next time your adding a canine to your family??

1 comment:

Jan said...

I'm glad you said "buying" a dog from a shelter. Some people come in expecting a free dog and get upset when they find there is a fee. Of course these people should not have a dog at all probably. But if they knew there was a charge they wouldn't come in.