Rescues In Progress

Update 2012 January 17 - Never happier days for Champ!
Champ and Miss Princess are leading the good life now, and Champ's new dad finally has the fishing buddy he wanted! They tell us we made their dreams come true. We think they made Champ's come true, too.

UPDATE 2012 January 03 - CHAMP has a new home and family!  It's going to be life in the Big Easy for Champ, with a lovely gal who looks like she was made for him, a smaller female boxer of slightly lighter color named "My Princess."  Oh, did they ever fall for each other, and Champ's new family is ecstatic. They said that Princess had never responded so positively to another dog.  And Champ, the quintessential gentleman, well even he could hardly contain himself for the smiling and excitement of the Princess's approval.  We found Champ's former owner, who said "Take him!"  So we did, and within 24 hours this family found us. Champ is going to the vet this week to be neutered and checked thoroughly, so he can begin his full life with Princess and their devoted human leaders.  Stay tuned for more photos and videos.
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2012 January 01, New Year's Day
New Orleans Lakefront Airport

The airport staff tried for hours to drive the dog away, thinking he would go home where they hoped he belonged. This was very early in the morning on New Year's day. Maybe he had run away because of the noise of all the fireworks last night.  But this thin but gorgeous intact male boxer was dirty and covered with callouses, and his ribs were sticking way out. So maybe he hadn't been home for a good while.  He was as gentle and well-mannered as a dog could be. But he wouldn't leave.  Sunrise came and passed, a beautiful balmy southern day unfolded, and he had no intention of going anywhere else.  They called us, and we brought food and tools to clean him up and made an appointment at the local emergency animal care facility so that they could see if he had a microchip ID in him. 

Read more: 2012 January 01 - CHAMP found his way to the airport and stayed!

UPDATE 2011 January 21

Abby & Dinozo came with us up to Washington the weekend of January 7, and these two beautiful spirits were welcomed warmly. No weeks of boarding and wondering for these loved dogs, as our rescue friends' own family members took them immediately! And warm they are, with sweaters that fit for going outdoors and soft beds and laps for them inside.  They were terrific travelers, as always.  Now, two weeks later, we miss their sweet presence but are smiling inside to know that Abby & Dinozo have seen it all, from the balmy humidity of Louisiana to the high desert of the southern Sierra to their final fur-ever home in the Pacific Northwest.  These pups will never lack for love or  memories, and many human hearts will be remembering them fondly for years to come. 

UPDATE 2012 Jan 02 -- Abby and Dinozo are moving to forever homes in Washington!
See details below, with more to come.  We are transporting them there next weekend.
A new video below of Dinozo mixing it up with the big boys, as he and Bear (95-lb long-haired german shepherd) chase Yolo (60-lb yellow lab/shepherd/pit mix) who teases them to chase him.    

2011 September -- December

Abby and Dinozo are brother and sister chihuahuas, almost three years old now.  Orphaned at an early age, they both were rescued by an organization called H.A.L.T. ("Helping Animals Live Tomorrow") in Bakersfield, CA.  These folks found them a lovely home with people who moved to New Orleans, LA.  Abby and Dinozo lived happily with that family until this past September, when multiple family problems made it impossible to continue to care for them.  On Wings Of Care fostered them for a while in New Orleans and then flew them back with us to California. When we learned that H.A.L.T. was going to have to board them until new adopters could be found, OWOC Board Director and volunteer Dave, who lives in the mountains above Bakersfield, offered to foster them.  (Yes, that's the same Dave who has adopted Sheba-Cosette, and who is currently also fostering Yolo!).   

Read more: 2011 September - Abby and Dinozo -- Two of a Kind!

Update 2012 January 14 - Yolo is home!
79 dogs made it out of death row in California shelters and up to Oregon and Washington the weekend of January 7, and Yolo was one of the biggest hits of them all! He just knew that this was for him, and he must have felt right at home in the climate of the Pacific Northwest, because he was a dream on the road transport, and within a few hours of our dropping him off at our rescue friends' home, we had several phone calls and emails.  "Yolo is the BEST!"  "Yolo is FANTASTIC!"  Ahh, music to our ears.  But truly, he is in his element now.  With a family who loves hiking outdoors and snow and fresh air as much as he does, he has made it home.  YEA YOLO!!!!!! 

Update 2012 January 2 - Yolo is going to his forever home in Washington!  See story below, plus new video!

2011 Dec 20

Somehow Yolo found himself out in the cold at Big Bear Mountain, high in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California.  Just a teenager at about nine months of age, his heart longed to be at some playground letting all the local children run after him and pull on him and play with him.  But instead, he was behind bars at the local shelter, and his time was out.  

We don't usually answer the calls for dogs who sound adoptable; we leave those to other rescues who have kennels or a ready supply of foster homes.  Our email IN boxes are set for those subject lines that read like "RED ALERT" or "BEYOND URGENT" -- and even with those, we sometimes have to sigh and just pass them along to others with a silent prayer. But Big Bear is an out-of-the-way place, and the shelter said this really was the end for this boy, as much as the staff all loved him.  The only On Wings Of Care volunteer available at the time was Dave, who would have to drive all the way down from his home in the southern Sierra Nevada in order to help.  And that meant he would have to bring along his own two dogs (Bear and Sheba-Cosette) and would be driving the high desert and mountain roads during a  winter wind storm. But "No" was not an option for Yolo, so it was not one to Dave, either. Before that day was over, Yolo began what no doubt was the adventure of his young life.

Yolo is some nondescript mix of yellow lab and german shepherd, maybe a small pinch of pit bull; and to be honest, he doesn't share the finest features of appearance of any of those breeds. If it were up to looks or structure or such trivialities alone, Yolo's "adoptability quotient" was probably low.  But soon after Dave freed him from the shelter and introduced him to Bear and Sheba, we knew otherwise.  His sweet, playful, and gentle nature actually make him most adoptable.  But how would he handle the immediate adventure that lay ahead of him?

Read more: 2011 November - Yo! Get a Load of Yolo!

2011 December 19

We have waited a good while to publish this final chapter in Scarlett's story, though it has been tempting to share this wonderful news for many weeks.  We wanted to be absolutely certain that this happy news was forever. Because those of you who have so kindly followed Scarlett's story probably have hearts like ours, and hers; and to drag you through another disappointing roller coaster would be as bad as it must have been for Scarlett.  But no worries now!  Those disappointing days are over.  Scarlett is part of a forever family who adores her, complete with a gentle older pit bull brother who is delighted to share his home and heart and toys with her.  

We flew her to a ranch outside Conroe, Texas in early November, to some people who are dedicated and experienced pit bull rescuers (Spindletop Pit Bull Rescue).  We knew the moment we met Leah and saw her interact with Scarlett that we had brought Scarlett to the right place, a place where she would learn and grow and relax. Leah let Scarlett accompany her frequently during the days and evenings for the first few weeks, doing ranch chores, meeting all of the other animals, constantly observing and being exposed to the predictable, kind, orderly routines.  Scarlett spent time in close proximity to many other dogs in a controlled way, and she leared that her first response need not be a ten-alarm defensive one.

The love that we had shown her cracked open her trusting gentle heart, and life at Spindletop taught Scarlett that she can get along with dogs in general, not just the dogs in our family.  It was just the transition she needed to become adopted into a real family, a permanent home.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged us and helped us help Scarlett!  Before her, we knew very little about pit bulls.  Now, when we see one, we understand better the terrier soul, the sensitive but brave heart, the playful, affectionate spirit, the flexible, sound outlook, the ever curious nose and digger.  They can be taught to fight, but they must be taught to fight.  Then excel even more when they are taught to love.

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2011 August--October
Southern California

You are looking at Scarlett when we found her August 10 and arranged for her to board at a no-kill shelter until we could find a foster, adopter, or return home to California for her (left), and Scarlett on October 12, four days after we retrieved her from the shelter and brought her to live in our home (right).  The no-kill shelter had deemed her unadoptable after her third day there, so she was largely unsocialized and not walked during her stay there, facts we had not understood until our return to California October 5.  We immediately removed her and brought her to our home.  How great and fast a change comes from a grateful canine's heart when they are given love and a chance for a real life!

SECOND UPDATE, 2011 Oct 16 Sunday:
Scarlett will have a home!  She has earned a forever place in our hearts, and just as she was doing that, we were led to some wonderful people in Texas who can give Scarlett love, understanding, care and guidance, fun, and -- ready for this -- a larger mellow male bull terrier with whom they are sure she will bond!  Her education (and ours from her) and her life with us will continue for a few more weeks, and then she'll fly with us to Texas, and we'll walk with her into her new home.  

Read more: 2011 August - Saving Scarlett

It was quite an 'exciting' flight over the Sierras, the Cascades, and then the Canadian Rockies before we made it to Edmonton last Saturday night.  Breathtaking scenery -- though I admit I was more concerned with the lovely sound of my single engine continuing to run smoothly as I picked our way through those rugged peaks!  All of the dogs did great, even with the afternoon turbulence.  Thanks for your wonderful generous support, which is what makes us able to continue dedicating our time, energies, and skills to this work.   (Click here for a heartwarming video of this weekend's arrival in Edmonton!) 

Right now, there are at least 50 healthy, highly adoptable dogs in Devore (San Bernardino county, CA) who need out before this weekend or they're toast.  And almost that many in Fresno county in the same dire straits.  Next week, there will be at least 50 more! Unless you're there or on some of these distribution lists, you'd find it hard to believe how many perfectly wonderful animals wind up in these "shelters" (NOT!) and are killed within five days! No 'adoption day' for these dogs, not even time for anyone to come on the weekend to see them!  It's going to take more than one transport flight per month even to begin to get the best of them out alive, especially since many of the dogs are medium to large in size, which means we can't always take 15-20 at a time like we can with the little ones. 

We have rescues from all over Washington and Canada willing to take these dogs right now, but we don't have funds to get them all there.  Flights, as opposed to long drives, are still the most efficient and economical and comfortable way to take the animals these long distances.  And our small single-engine planes with high payload capacity can carry the most animals for the least operational costs. 

But we're working on ways to do even better.  For starters, we're actively seeking other volunteer pilots with planes to help on some or all of these flights.  Groups like Pilots 'n Paws are hard to pin down because their volunteer schedules are so changeable, but whenever possible we try to team up with them in order to transport more dogs at one time, and increase safety by having more than one plane flying these rugged and remote routes. 

In the end, the number of trips we can make and the number of dogs we can save really just comes down to how much support we get from people like you to cover our fuel and other airplane operating costs.  We'll always offer our services at no cost, but it takes fuel and oil and mandatory safety inspections and maintenance to keep us flying On Wings Of Care!

With the transport capabilities in place, and the rescuers and fosters and adopters ready, we want to start emptying out the tragic high-kill shelters that still exist in southern California.  This, together with media exposure, is what we need to successfully pressure county legislators to change the practices at these shelters, to allocate their funds more wisely, to begin allowing more use of public volunteers and public donations in ways that have proven so very successful in hundreds of no-kill shelters across the country.  In this age, there is no excuse for cruel and needless mass killings of animals that are healthy and highly adoptable as companions to humans.

Please help us spread the word, share the joy, and save more animals and people by bringing their hearts together for life!
Many thanks, again, for all your help.

 -- Bonny, Dave, Deb, Brayton, Brett, plus hundreds of fellow rescuers and over a thousand critters (so far!) who are here and saving lives thanks to On Wings Of Care!