The operation, the largest to date for Wings of Rescue, aims to save dogs from death row in California, where hundreds of thousands of animals are killed every year.
"When you know what's going on, it's difficult to stay passive," said Yehuda Netanel, a private pilot and co-founder of Wings of Rescue.
This is the group's fourth holiday airlift, which started in 2010 with Netanel flying dogs to Hillsboro in his own Piper Malibu Jetprop. This year, he's corralled more than 20 pilots, who will airlift dogs to 14 destinations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
The flights were originally scheduled for Friday, but harsh weather forced Netanel to juggle schedules, with the first plane scheduled to land in Klamath Falls on Thursday. The Eugene and North Bend flights were shifted to Saturday. All of the other flights, including to Redmond and Hillsboro in Oregon, are scheduled for Friday.
Last year, seven planes flew 350 dogs to Hillsboro. This year, Wings of Rescue is flying 55 dogs to Hillsboro, eight to Redmond, 35 to Eugene, 20 to Klamath Falls and a small number to North Bend.
The rest of the canines --€“ more than 500 altogether -- will go to rescue groups in Seattle, Bellingham, Spokane, Pasco, Olympia, Kalispell, Billings, Helena and Boise.
Netanel said Wings of Rescue in the future aims to fly dogs beyond the Northwest.
"Not only are the destinations expanding, but we're finding humane societies in smaller towns where people are clamoring for dogs," said Netanel. "This is a golden opportunity for those dogs to have a life rather than being euthanized here."
A mix of dogs is scheduled to be flown to rescue groups in Oregon, including Family Dogs New Life Shelter in Portland, Oregon Dog Rescue in Tualatin, SaveHaven Humane Society in Albany, Love-a-Bull in Eugene, Willamette Humane Society in Salem and S/Nipped in Coos Bay.
The Hillsboro flights are scheduled to land between 3 and 4 p.m.
Outside Oregon, Netanel said some locations are only taking Chihuahuas, a breed that Netanel said was on the top of the euthanasia list in California.
So many unsprayed or neutered Chihuahuas are in California that people abandon them on city streets, ditch them in the countryside and dump them in the desert.
Most of the dogs slated for the airlift are now at shelters in Pasadena, Lancaster and Riverside. They're picked out by the receiving rescues, which select animals by looking at their profiles online, mainly PetFinder.com. On the days of the flights, volunteers in California will fetch them from shelters and drive them to the airport, where they're loaded in their own crates onto the aircraft.
About 200 people are taking part in the operation, which will cost about $100,000. Netanel said some money is coming from Wings of Rescue, a 501(c)3. But mostly the volunteer pilots are covering their own costs, including using their own aircraft.
He expects all of the animals to find homes.
"Holiday season is traditionally the time when people adopt dogs," Netanel said. "The vast majority will be adopted very quickly."
-- Lynne Terry
Article and Photos sourced From: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/12/animal_rescue_will_airlift_500.html
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