Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/easter-flight-to-freedom/
Easter Sunday comes late this year, but it arrived just in time for the shelter pets flying to safety on our Easter Flight to Freedom.
On April 19, 2022, Greater Good Charities and The Animal Rescue Site are teaming up to fly 40+ at-risk shelter pets to safety in Michigan.
Our four-legged Easter fliers were rescued from Louisiana, where shelter overcrowding leaves animals at risk of euthanasia. The danger only grows for those with heartworm disease, which runs rampant in the South.
Heartworm is a treatable illness, but overcrowded shelters often lack the resources and space to treat sick animals, giving heartworm-positive pets a slim chance of survival.
Our Easter Flight to Freedom–which will also depart during April’s Heartworm Awareness Month–will give these shelter pets a second chance at life.
The Easter Flight To Freedom will save puppies like Cadbury, Peeps, and Goldbrick, three tiny puppies found dumped in a tin shed outside an empty home in Louisiana.
When the single mother living next door heard noises coming from the shed, she went out to investigate. But when the neighbor opened the door, she found a basket filled with abandoned puppies.
“She opened the shed and found three small puppies in a large basket,” shelter workers told Greater Good Charities. The puppies were hot, panting, and probably terrified as temperatures climbed.
The woman and her son took care of the puppies for a while, but she knew she couldn’t keep them forever. These “basket babes” were certainly loved but failing health and financial challenges prevented the woman from giving them a good home.
“With tears in her eyes and her young son at her side, she surrendered them to the Iberville Parish Animal shelter,” shelter workers said. “We assured her that our goal was that the next basket these pups would be in was an Easter basket with their new loving family.”
Our Easter Flight to Freedom is primarily filled with canine fliers, but one lucky cat passenger will be traveling to a better life aboard our Easter Flight to Freedom.
Hattak–whose name means “man” in the indigenous Choctaw language—lived in a campsite filled with contract workers working temporary jobs at a local manufacturing facility. Once their jobs were done for the season, workers left the campsite and headed back home.
But one day, a friendly stray cat showed up at the campsite and started befriending all the campers. “They looked after him and enjoyed his company as the stray visited from camper to camper daily,” shelter workers told Greater Good Charities.
But when workers broke camp for the season, they weren’t sure what to do with the homeless cat, who had become part of their transient family. Some campers worried about Hattak’s well-being after his family of caretakers dispersed.
“At the end of the job, many camp residents did not know what to do with Hattak and they feared for his wellbeing,” shelter workers told Greater Good Charities. “When they arrived at our shelter, we assured them that we would find the stray a permanent home and give him all the love and care he deserved.”
Now Hattak will be flying to Michigan on our Easter Flight to Freedom, which is the surest way to help this loving cat find a forever home.
Of course, Flights to Freedom are funded by reader donations, which means we’ll need your help getting this life-saving plane in the air!
Just $5 helps us buy 125 air miles for a shelter pet flier, while larger donations help us fly even more animals. Can you make a donation to help us give Cadbury, Peeps, Goldbrick, Hattak, and other Louisiana shelter pets a second chance at life this Easter?
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
