2011 December 26

Here is a fabulous new program that will:

• Save thousands of lives per year, 
• Bring wonderful domestic animals in need of rescue into the arms and homes of the humans who want to love and care for them, and 
• Enable pilots and aircraft owners, charter companies, and airlines to save money while providing an invaluable and desperately needed charitable service.  

Rescuers everywhere spend enormous amounts of time, money, and energy matching up humans in need of the love and companionship of wonderful animals (dogs and cats and rabbits and more), with great animals who are in need of rescue and homes.  All of this effort goes a long ways, figuratively speaking. But sometimes the animals need to go a long way -- literally, in order to reach their fur-ever homes.  Often it is this missing link -- transport, that makes the chain of rescue fail.

It's not that there aren't people who want these animals, and it's not that these animals aren't superbly adoptable. Tens of thousands of wonderfully adoptable dogs and cats each year are euthanized in shelters or starve as strays because shelters have no room to take them, simply because no one can afford to transport the animals to the people who would take and care for them.  

The ASPCA estimates that the cost to care for a medium-sized dog for its entire lifetime (say 12 years) is under $10,000.  Not many people can afford to add to that the cost of $1000 or more to fly their rescue animals to them. But every single day, thousands of healthy, perfectly adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized in some parts of the U.S., when they were wanted and could have had wonderful lives in other parts of the U.S. and Canada.  

On Wings Of Care and other aviation-oriented rescue organizations in the U.S. transport rescue animals as much as we can. We have flown 30-40 small dogs and cats at a time from southern California north as far as Canada and east as far as Massachusetts. These are costly ventures, but they have enabled many rescues that would not otherwise have been accomplished. These and similar charity flights by general aviation pilots will always be a help, but they are tragically tiny compared to the need.

Right now, for example, from just two shelters in California, we have over 60 small dogs -- healthy, sociable, and in every way perfectly adoptable -- who are wanted by people on the east coast.  These are people who will love and care for these dogs dearly and forever, people who can afford to care for them but who can't afford to come to California and get them. One of the shelters has been ordered by their management to euthanize all of these dogs and nearly 100 more, because the shelter is full beyond capacity.  As of today, December 29, 2011, we have negotiated with the shelter to give us two weeks to find a way to transport these small dogs to rescuers on the east coast who will provide the rest of the ground transport needed to get them to homes.  

The Lend A Wing™ program could save all of these lives and more.  Here's how it works:
A charter company or turbine aircraft operator contacts On Wings Of Care to let us know that they are willing to have us contact them when we have transport needs.  They can also contact us at any time that they would be willing to carry with them on any of their flights a pet carrier (or two, or more!).  With as little as 24 hours' notice, our network of rescuers can bring to them at their airport of departure a qualified rescue animal, and we will have a rescuer waiting for them at their destination airport. All animals we bring will be clean and odor-free, healthy, up to date on vaccines, in secure carriers, and sedated if necessary to ensure that they remain relaxed, compliant, and quiet for the duration of the flight. In some cases we can have one of our volunteers accompany the animals on the flight, and we will fly them back commercially.  We will provide waivers of responsibility to the aircraft operator, and we will provide a signed contract promising standards of cleanliness, quietness, promptness of delivery and pick-up at both departure and destination airports, and other reasonable requirements.  Finally, we at On Wings Of Care will help negotiate discounted fuel prices at fuel stops and destinations and provide a receipt from our 501(c)(3) for the cost value of the transport, so that companies may receive all available tax benefits for this charitable service.

To contact us with questions or to give us permission to contact you when we have a need for transports, please e-mail us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please pass along the word about this program!  The animals are waiting and so very ready to go home at last!

Here are some of the small dogs ready to go right now from California, with fosters and adopters who have chosen them and are ready to pick them up at any airport from D.C. to New York, at any time:  (Drum Roll Please!)

17 rescue dogs to Homes Thanks to Wicomico Humane Society in Salisbury, Maryland! --
Bayer, Brownie, Pinto,  Manning, Lightning, Bizzy, Jocomo, Vera, Nancy, Flora, Debbie, Westey, Baby, Keelee, Redding, Abby & Dinozo!

9 rescue dogs to Homes Thanks to Wags and Wishes in Fredericksburg, Virginia! --
Angie, Chini, Tammy, Copper, Isabel, Shyanne, Alina, Luise, and Casper!

7 rescue dogs to Homes Thanks to A Forever-Home Rescue Foundation in Chantilly, Virginia! 
Seven chihuahuas from Ventura, CA  (names and photos to come) 

Missing photos still to come: 
Angie (female terrier mix)
Bayer
Brownie
Pinto

Abby
Dinozo

And many more......

The "Lend-A-Wing" Program saves lives while saving you money on your charter flights!
It's not just a great idea! It's the L.A.W.!