Transport by air—YES, we can do it!
Debi Boies, D.A.N. board member and founding member of Pilots-N-Paws, shares with us how air transport got started:

This past year, I was fortunate to be able to adopt a beautiful male Doberman from a rescue group in Florida.  I lives in SC so getting him to me was a little bit of a challenge.  To my surprise, my friend Jon generously offered to fly his plane to Florida to pick my dobie up and bring him to me!   Through a discussion that followed, Jon became aware of the nightmare that rescues go through when scheduling ground transport for animals.  We decided to offer another option, particularly for those animals who may have a difficult time traveling long distances in several different cars. Pilots-N-Paws was born.

Pilots-N-Paws is a group dedicated to connecting pilots who wish to volunteer their time to transport any animal in need.  Our biggest challenge has been letting the pilots know about the needs of rescues. Through networking and the assistance of many volunteers, flyers are now posted in several small airports, pilot chat groups have been contacted, and pilots are stepping forward every day.  There will always be more of a need for animals to be transported then pilots available, but for the senior and medical needs animals, the option of being flown to their new rescue home for care makes their transport tolerable.  We have accomplished several flights already. The majority of those have been for Dobermans but one little Lhasa mix named Chad with special needs was a passenger on one of the missions.

Rommel “helping” Pilot Patrick

To see a video slideshow of this D.A.N. transport of Rommel with Pilots-N-Paws,  go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJ6lnidOoo .

To learn more about our group and how you can assist animals in need, please visit our website at www.pilotsnpaws.org .  

One simple act of kindness is all it takes to make a difference.

~DebiBoies

The Board of D.A.N. wishes to thank publicly the pilots of Pilots-N-Paws for donating their time, planes, and gasoline to help these Dobermans and other precious animals get to a safe rescue, foster, or home. You are doing an incredible service, and we appreciate your efforts immensely!