NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)- The mission is called the Good Flights Program and this Tuesday morning, more than 50 dogs got a first-class ticket up north.
The Greater Good Charities and eight local shelters loaded up the dogs onto a private plane and they’re currently en route to finding a home.
Inside that plane, you won’t find your typical passengers. Instead, you’ll find dozens of pups and pooches.
“Inside that plane that is my favorite, Marabelle,” said Kelsey Freedman, Lafourche Shelter representative. “It’s really heartwarming to be able to know they are going find a good home and we don’t have to see them in our shelter kennels anymore.”
Departure was from the Lakefront Airport and the final destination is hopefully their “furrrrever” homes in New Jersey.
Loading these dogs up into the plane at 4:00 A.M., was quite a task. It was a mission that matters.
“We are shipping them up because it saves lives. Actually, save two lives. For each of these pets that we are moving it makes room for another pet that is displaced here and homeless and needs to go into the shelters,” shared Erin Robbins the VP of transport for Greater Good Charities.
Southern Louisiana shelters are overrun with pets and there are simply not enough homes for them. This is their ticket too soon to be laying on someone’s couch enjoying the life they deserve.
“They have the normal vetting and pretreatment for heartworms for the ones who are heartworm positive. They get health certifications from a veterinarian,” explained Reagan Daniels, Cara’s House.
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Good Flights Program, the crew and volunteers have successfully transported more than 1,600 at-risk shelter dogs from Louisiana.
“For a shelter like us, where we don’t have a lot of walkthrough traffic, these transports truly save lives,” said Rebecca Lirette, Iberville. “Having a transport like this with our partners at the great good come in and rescue these dogs just takes a load off our back and gives us more ammunition to wake up and do it all again the next day.”
That’s exactly what is going to happen again tomorrow, Wednesday, April 26, 2022. The rescue crew is going to wake up early again, load up another plane— yes another and this group of animals is set to go to Wisconsin.
PARTICIPATING SENDING SHELTERS FOR THIS FLIGHT: Cara’s House, Iberville Parish Animal Shelter and Control, Lafayette Animal Shelter and Care Center, Lafourche Parish Animal Shelter, St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter, St. Martin’s Parish Animal Shelter and Save a Pet Adoption, Rescue, & Transport
All of today and tomorrow’s flights have been made possible with the help of Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, the maker of HEARTGARD® Plus (ivermectin/pyrantel), and The Animal Rescue Site.