Shuttle Service Relays Dogs From Kill Shelters to Loving Homes

An Alabama rescue service recently made the rounds on Tik Tok with a short video featuring a small plane filled with puppies, taken from a flight in July 2021.

The footage was taken by Cassandra Bergeron, on a 90-minute flight from Alabama to Orlando, Florida on a trip that saved the dogs from probable euthanization. The dogs were removed from a series of rescues and shelters by Alabama Puppy Rescue Flights, an organization that relays dogs from areas of high animal-kill rates to locations with eager adoptive homes. 

The dogs had taken light aircraft feeder flights from Gadsden, Monroe, Butler, and Luverne in a pickup organized by Animal Rescue Relay, a group geared towards facilitating the maneuvers and complex scheduling involved in making such an operation possible. A University of Central Florida professor and pilot, Micheal Young, who spearheaded the flight, flew from Orlando to make the pickup with a Bergeron and a few other students in tow, where they prepped the 27-strong pack by checking each dogs' records and clearing them for flight, then giving them a spoonful of honey to quell any impending nausea. After a short pause to run the pups out and hopefully instill some helpful pre-flight fatigue, the group took flight with the dogs strewn across their laps. 

The flight took off with the rear passengers describing themselves as "submerged" in dogs, possible due to the minimal baggage and cargo present. After a hop through the air, the (newly soiled) passengers disembarked to hand over the dogs to 15 volunteers aligned with waiting adoption groups. Working with 7 local Florida shelters to combat Alabaman overcrowding in its pet infrastructure, Alabama Puppy Rescue Flights has saved over 7,000 dogs from a bad end. The owner of the account that received so much interest, Bergeron has continued to assist with the flights in the ensuing months before moving to Atlanta. 

FMI: www.facebook.com/AlabamaPuppyRescue