Captain Prebish ’s pinch escape airlift 145 tax shelter animals to safety .
Stephen M. Keller
Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the east slide of the United States hard , give the sack hundreds of beast and cause one pilot to leap into action . Southwest Airlines maitre d' Matthew Prebish was able-bodied to airlift145 displace shelter animalslast Saturday , Oct. 12 .
Photo:Stephen M. Keller
try how this heroic flight came to go by and which of the escape ’s rescue animals captured Prebish ’s nerve forever .
Getting Off the Ground
brute shelter employee around the country routinely work around the clock to provide their brute with the best potential care . In the case of Hurricanes Milton and Helene , the well caretaking decisionthese shelter could make for their animals was to put them on a plane and adjure them a hard goodbye . Such an emergency brake flight of stairs was made possible byGreater Good Charities , who partner with Southwest Airlines andLucky Dog Animal Rescueto bring animals to guard .
" At Southwest Airlines , we lead with our Hearts to provide assistance where it is needed , and we were honour to lend an aircraft for this deliverance flight to transport these animal to their forever homes , ” Whitney Eichinger , Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Southwest Airlines says .
When he take heed his employer was involved , Prebishjumped at the chanceto pilot the hand brake flying . In add-on to Prebish , around 60 military volunteer came together to make the emergency flight of stairs happen .
Stephen M. Keller
The emergency escape include around 145 cat and wiener temporarily housed at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue ’s Rescue Campus in South Carolina to prophylactic in Milwaukee , WI , on Oct. 12 , 2024 . The affected animals had previously been relocated from shelters in Eastern Tennessee and Florida in the path of Hurricanes Helene and Milton .
Pilot Falls in Love With Kitten
After landing , a total of eight Midwest animal shelters took in the displace animals and are presently in the process of giving them the thorough aesculapian care they take before being put up for adoption . But one saving creature caught the eye of a picky Southwest Airlines pilot , becoming the first of the bunch from the hand brake flight to be adopted .
" Once we landed in Milwaukee , [ I ] depart to notice the animals a minuscule moment more , " Prebish says . " One of them bewitch my attention , and then , [ I ] ended up train a cat home plate . "
The cat in interrogative is Avery , a fourth - month - honest-to-god female kitty who now lives with Prebish and three fur siblings in Texas : Smalls the cat , Tahoe theLabrador retriever , and Wrigley thegolden retriever . In increase to being lovely , Prebish took to Avery ’s personality right off .
Stephen M. Keller
" I opened the crateful up a small bit to kind of let her see if she would really fare out , Prebish says . " And immediately , her head word pop out and she was just reckon around and she ’s just had this personality that she wants to explore the world and just see everything that the world has to volunteer . "
For a kitty who wants to explore the world , it ’s hard to overreach consume an airline pilot for a dad !
How to Adopt a Displaced Pet
If you live in the Midwest and are depend to adopt a new furred acquaintance , consider this special group of animate being .
you could confabulate and adopt the airlifted pets from the following animal shelter in Wisconsin and Illinois :
