More than 40 dogs to be flown to Idaho to find forever homes

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Pets Alive! and Dog is my Co-Pilot have organized a flight for more than 40 dogs to head north to Idaho to find their forever homes.

The dogs were loaded on to the plane around 5:15 a.m. Tuesday at Kelly Field Airport.

The San Antonio Pets Alive!’s transport program provides an outlet for dogs facing euthanasia at city shelters.

"The real hero isn’t the guy flying the dogs to safety, it's the people who walk into the shelter every single day and deal with those animals," said Peter Rork, the pilot, founder and president of Dog is my Co-Pilot.

The organization says large adult dogs are in high demand in a variety of communities in Idaho and that hey are often adopted quickly, many times within just two weeks. To date, SAPA! has saved more than 40,000 companion animals, a press release said.

The Dog is my Co-Pilot organization works with municipal animal shelters and nonprofit animal rescue organizations in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, and helps delivers animals to organizations in northern states including Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Flights are funded by public donations alone. DIMC flies from 40 to as many as 250 animal passengers on each flight.

"No one can accept 50, 100, 200 animals at a time," Rork said. "So we have to cobble large groups at a time or make a large number of stops on the way."