Cloud Nine Rescue Flights

Kylie Troy of Animal Adoption League and Rhonda Sims of Freedom Train Animal Transports both came to me with animal requests for the weekend of the 23rd. So, we decided to do a transport out of Rock Hill, SC for the 23rd. York County, SC puts down 900 animals per month due to overpopulation, which would have included the animals that Animal Adoption League Brought. Anderson Animal Shelter puts down 300 animals per week! It’s hard to believe these numbers for those of us who live in the north where the animal euthanasia rates are so much lower, frequently approaching zero, but this is why these transports are so necessary.

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I flew down the night before, a night when few other aircraft were flying aside from commercial flights, but an example of why the Aztec is a great plane for the mission. It was dark and rainy, with ice warnings looming and low clouds. But thanks to some careful flight planning, it was an uneventful.

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The day of the transport itself had low clouds as well, but much nicer weather. We got to the airport with 26 dogs, and started loading up. This included two litters of puppies, but was going to be a new record for us. Cloud Nine had never transported 26 animals in one transport previously, the previous most was 23. However the few litters of puppies and the fact that most of the dogs were generally on the medium size range made it work. Sure enough, 26 dogs fit quite comfortably, and we were on our way.

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Once we broke through the cloud layer it was a beautiful day on top of the clouds. Up to Albany we went, and about four hours later landed with a huge media response, and we explained in great detail the overpopulation epidemic that exists in the South.

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Additionally while in Albany I got to meet two of Cloud Nine’s volunteers for the first time – Sharon Pieronek and Jessica Gorman. Sharon and Jessica saw the TV coverage of Cloud Nine the last time we were in Albany, and wanted to help out. Since then, they’ve both been great volunteers who have done a lot for Cloud Nine, and I can’t thank both of them enough for their help. It was great to finally get a chance to meet them in person!

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Fueled up, and off to Manchester we went to drop off the rest of the animals. That was a quick hop, and Journey from Manchester Animal Shelter along with an entourage of volunteers who would be fostering the animals until they could be put in the shelter and/or adopted out to new homes were there to greet us. We unloaded the dogs, and it was then on our way back home.

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Every transport we do is great as it’s another chance to save more lives and make a difference, which is Cloud Nine’s mission and goal. We are fortunate to be partnered with some of the best and most dedicated people in the animal rescue community, which makes our goal all the much easier and more successful. This transport was a bit less than routine and highlighted some of Cloud Nine’s strengths. Even though it was not difficult flying weather on the day of, due to the weather we had to deal with en route down to South Carolina and the fact that we managed to save 26 lives in a single transport using a single plane. This is where Cloud Nine shines – on days when others are on the ground, we can still be flying.

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Even though 26 was a new record for us in sheer number, the transport we did the following weekend shattered that record, not only on number but also on distance. Stay tuend for the write-up on that one, I’m still recovering from it!

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I’d like to thank the ASPCA, who made this transport possible. You may recall that in December we received a grant from the ASPCA. Well, we put part of that grant to use for this transport. We’ll be using more of the grant in the future. Funding is always the greatest challenge we face. On a longer transport such as this one, the costs get significantly higher. The ASPCA’s generous grant took care of all our costs for this transport. Thank you, ASPCA!

To everyone who has been following what we’re doing – thank you for your encouragement in support! It does not go unnoticed, and makes all the difference in the world to us and to the lives we save. Keep on spreading the word – ultimately our goal is to educate the public as to the problems that exist that cause animal overpopulation. We want to see this problem disappear! Remember that transport saves individual lives, but does not solve the epidemic of animal overpopulation or animal cruelty.

Before I forget, here are some of the articles that were written about us in Albany:

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Charity-Saves-26-Dogs/P8wQE5ExqEi3gdhVoG-whg.cspx

http://capitalnews9.com/capital-region-news-12-content/494057/cloud-nine-rescue-flights-making-a-difference

http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/rescue-1270494-flights-nine.html

Blue Skies,

-Ted

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