It turns out that herding cats isn’t as bad as people make it sound. However, it was definitely made easier with several rescue volunteers, a friend from the Bay Area visiting and six (6) pet crates!
We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat…..err….. Airplane! Wait. Never Mind, This Is A Centurion!
Mona (left), Mary (second from left), myself and Jason (right) taking inventory of all these cats before solving the Tetris puzzle of fitting the crates inside the airplane. We were expecting ten cats, but one just couldn’t be parted with, so we took nine.
This flight turned out to be very uneventful. The biggest issue was the logistics of segregating the cats so that they would be okay to travel in the same crate and sourcing enough crates for them all. Thankfully the other volunteers had crates to spare both on the sending and receiving end to make it happen.
Volunteer Passenger Jason Loading Cats.The Weather Was Perfectly Calm For The Flight Which Made This Arrangement Possible.
Cool weather and a long-lasting high pressure system made the flight hazy, but very calm with almost zero wind all the way up around 13,000 feet.
Smooth Flight On The Way Back To Carson City.
We met with Jolene at the Mountain West FBO and she took the critters to PetSmart and had four of them adopted in less than three (3) hours after landing!!!
Since Facebook wants to monopolize your attention I can’t embed Mona’s FB post here. You’ll need to follow the link below for more photos and a video of our takeoff out of Fresno-Chandler Executive airport:
Our most rewarding rescue flight to date! Five abused puppies were found, rescued, fostered back to health in Visalia and we were fortunate to be the ones to provide a flight to Carson City for Boxers and Buddies, an adoption group based in Virginia City.
Holding A Couple Of The Puppies In Visalia Before The Flight.
WARNING: Do not scroll to the end of this post if you do not want to see the puppies in the state they were rescued in.
These five puppies were found abused with swollen heads where they had been beaten by the original “person” that owned them. Simply unbelievable.
Once they were rescued from the abuser they were fostered by a regular caregiver (Cheryl) in Visalia who reached out to me directly to see if we would be able to make the flight. Of course, we couldn’t resist (I think she knew we would do it! *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*).
Cheryl Caring For The PupsShe Sent These So I Couldn’t Say ‘No’
Once they had gone through their regimen of medication, which Cheryl had to provide regularly during her foster, they would be ready to travel.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!
The weather over the mountains was improving after a recent storm, but that, along with my wife’s work (she REALLY wanted to come along and help), made it seem like I might not be able to make the flight and offered Wednesday as an alternate.
Cheryl let me know that they were dealing with flooding issues where she was at, so she really wanted to see if we could still make it happen.
Flooding At The Foster’s Ranch.
Cheryl enlisted the aid of a local volunteer transporter, Ketrena, to get the puppies to us at the airport later than we had originally hoped and planned to get there which was another problem solved.
Flight To Visalia Over The Snowy Sierras.
We arrived for a quick meet-and-greet with Ketrena and loaded up the puppies after spending about 10 minutes saying ‘hi’ to every one of them!
The Best Reward For These Flights!!!!
It was an uneventful flight after dark, we just needed to make it an IFR flight to punch through the clouds getting back into Carson City.
Getting Dark And Cloudy Returning Home Over The Sierras. But Thankfully, I Had The Right Airplane For This Mission.
Once we landed we made contact with the Boxers And Buddies crew who were waiting patiently and got them out of the crates and onto some grass where they had an absolute ball and so they could take care of their business!
The Boxers And Buddies team already had names for them (each named after a pickle!) and very quickly posted info on the puppies on their adoption website. Their names are Pepperoncini, Gherkins, Dill, Cornichon and Bread and Butter (I didn’t know that was a name of a pickle).
There is no doubt these happy cuties will be adopted very quickly.
WARNING: Do NOT scroll below this line if you do not want to see how hurt these puppies were when they were rescued. I understand that some people will want to see the amount of care rescuers have to provide for these defenseless animals and how much they have had to heal.
These images were provided to me by the rescuers of these five puppies and illustrate just how cruel some “people” can be to small creatures. Whatever the personal struggles the abusers were dealing with, we were fortunate they were found and removed from that environment and then surrounded by very caring individuals.
Many shelters, like Boxers And Buddies, have an owner surrender program where these intelligent companions can find a foster and eventually a home. There was no need for this to happen.
Just barely more than a handful when they were found. But, they have recovered well and seem to be well on their way to a happy ever after!
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