More than three dozen dogs from an overcrowded Oklahoma City shelter found new homes last week after a nonprofit group flew a planeload of puppies to Oregon.
These temporarily homeless dogs flew aboard Dog Is My Copilot’s brightly colored Cessna Caravan, which transports shelter animals to new homes across the country.
Kellee Robertson, manager of Norman’s Animal Welfare Center, said the dogs were taken to Street Dog Hero, a nonprofit organization in Bend, Oregon. Many of the dogs and puppies already had foster homes waiting when they landed Saturday.
Street Dog Hero is one of the external shelters with which the Norman Animal Welfare Center has existing agreements. The shelter also pre-schedules several flights per year with Dog Is My Copilot. Since last year, Norman has sent 161 dogs to Street Dog Hero.
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“We have an obligation to help animals, so we have to do everything we can do to get dogs out of the building,” Robertson said. “It’s just one of the cogs in the wheel that helps us make space and prevent euthanasia, if possible.”
The Norman Animal Welfare Center is a no-kill shelter, a designation given when at least 90% of the animals are placed in new homes.
The shelter takes a multi-pronged approach to reducing the population within its walls, including adoption, agreements with rescue and transport organizations, and a spay and neuter policy.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Dog rescue flight eases Oklahoma’s overcrowded animal shelter
