Volunteers fly and drive thousands of miles to rescue dogs in northern Florida and southern Georgia in dire situations

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The Tallahassee Animal Services Center recently issued a shelter full alert, putting out a desperate plea for adoptions while squeezing two and sometimes three dogs into a kennel in hopes of saving space and lives.

It’s an uphill battle. The number of dogs and cats arriving at shelters far exceeds the number of those being adopted.

The shelter’s statistics so far this year show it has taken in more than 2,700 dogs and cats. More than 700 have been surrendered by their owners and more than 1,700 are strays picked up off the streets. That’s an average of more than 10 a day. Less than 50% are adopted and just under 20% are euthanized.

It can be daunting.

What the numbers don’t show is the heart and effort that shelter employees, rescue groups and animal lovers put into trying to save as many of these animals as they can.

For hundreds of dogs and cats, that means hopping in a van or on a plane and traveling hundreds of miles to start over.

In this Dog Days of Summer report, we look at the ways people are literally going out of their way to help.

Randy Hock is a Pilots N Paws volunteer based in Tallahassee.(WC television)

Randy Hock is ready for takeoff while most of us are still sipping our first cup of coffee, preparing to greet the morning sky and break through the clouds.

It’s a vision and a feeling that never goes out of style. This Monday, I’m going too.

Randy Hock and Julie Montanaro aboard a Pilots N Paws flight.(Julie Montanaro/WCTV)

“We’re picking up a couple of adorable dogs in Bainbridge, Decatur County. They need a ride,” Hock said as we sat in the cockpit awaiting takeoff at Tallahassee International Airport.

Hock is on a mission to save lives as part of a volunteer group called “Pilots N Paws.”

Pilots pick up dogs from overcrowded shelters with uncertain futures and deliver them to rescues and foster homes that promise second chances.

A seat above the clouds, somewhere between Tallahassee and Tampa.(WC television)

Hock is one of 6,000 pilots nationwide who answer the call. He has transported more than 200 dogs in the past four years.

Pilots pick up dogs from overcrowded shelters with uncertain futures and take them to rescue locations... — Pilots pick up dogs from overcrowded shelters with uncertain futures and deliver them to rescues and foster homes that promise second chances.(WC television)

“I see Vivi. I see Poppy. Hey, girls,” Hock said as a Bainbridge shelter employee greeted him on the tarmac at Decatur County Industrial Airpark. Hand over two dogs.

Pilots N Paws volunteer Randy Hock prepares to load Vivi and Poppy into his plane.(WC television)

“Somehow the dogs know. I don’t know how they know it, but when you get them out of the crate and out of the truck, they know it’s going to be a good day,” Hock said. “It’s that way most of the time. They’re ready to go. They know their life is about to change and their life is about to get easier.” are “About to change.”

“They’re going to get adopted really fast!” he said as he loaded the dogs onto the plane.

Before you know it, these pups are strapped in and ready for a two-hour ride to Tampa.

Poppy is ready for her flight from Bainbridge, Georgia to Tampa, Florida.(WC television)

One nervous and calm, the other excited to look out the window.

A Pilots N Paws animal rescue flight in progress.(WC television)

“The transfer program is a real lifesaver,” said Melissa Sharp, intake and transfer coordinator at Tallahassee Animal Services Center.

Ten lucky dogs and cats will also be loaded there for the chance to start a new life, but it will be a road trip. A very long one.

Kelby Shults, CEO of Blooper Animal Rescue, will be at the wheel.

Blooper Animal Rescue packed up 10 cats and dogs and transported them from Florida to Maine.(WC television)

“We’ll be going all the way to Maine, so we’ll be doing about 1,800 miles one way and 3,500 miles round trip,” Shults said.

Shults makes regular stops at the Tallahassee Animal Services Center. We met him earlier this year when he and shelter employees loaded five dogs and five cats into their pickup truck with several cages.

Some, like Pixie, a blind toy poodle with a long list of health problems, already have families waiting to adopt them.

Pixie, a blind toy poodle with a long list of health issues, now has a forever home... — Pixie, a blind toy poodle with a long list of health issues, now has a forever home waiting for her.(WC television)

“Some of them have been here for weeks, if not months,” Melissa Sharp said. “I’ve even sent some that have been here for years and they get adopted within 30 days of their arrival.”

Mac is a clear example. He is a boxer mix who spent 491 days in the Tallahassee shelter.

“Sometimes the best dogs are the ones that sit the longest,” said his former foster mom, Nikki Rupp. “He’s one of my top five favorite dogs of all time.”

But Mac was adopted just weeks after stepping off the transport truck in Massachusetts.

Mac waited over 500 days and traveled over 1,000 miles to find his forever family.(Julie Montanaro | WCTV)

“Everyone was like, ‘Why was he sitting here for so long? ’ And we were like, ‘We don’t know, but you’re the lucky one because you get to take him home,’” Rupp said. “He deserved it and he waited a long time to get his chance.”

Rupp serves on the board of directors of the Tallahassee Animal Shelter Foundation, which funds these transports, which can cost $2,500 or more per trip.

“It’s very important because we’re experiencing an unprecedented number of admissions in our state and in our city. So any dog that we can get out of the shelter with a virtually guaranteed outcome of living, we’re going to take advantage of that opportunity,” she said.

Ten more dogs were loaded into a van Thursday afternoon for the trip to shelters and rescues across New England. Among them is Lewis, who has been at Tallahassee Animal Services Center for nearly nine months (260 days) waiting to be adopted.

Lewis, a dog who spent 260 days at Tallahassee Animal Services, waves to the driver who... — Lewis, a dog who spent 260 days at Tallahassee Animal Services, greets the driver who will send him and nine other dogs north for adoption.(Sam Thomas)

Rescue Riders, the pet transportation company handling this trip, says he is expected to arrive Saturday morning.

Dogs are loaded onto a transport truck at Tallahassee Animal Services to be shipped north to... — Dogs are loaded onto a transport truck at Tallahassee Animal Services to be shipped north for adoption.(Sam Thomas)

So far this year, Tallahassee Animal Services has transported more than 200 animals. Some went to other states, others to areas farther south in Florida. It uses those transports regularly, sometimes as often as twice a month.

“There were times when I felt really sad when they went away,” Melissa Sharp said. “Of course, we get very attached to the animals in our care, but to see them go and know that they are going to find a forever home is all we want.”

This animal rescue flight has landed.(WC television)

Hock is now on the tarmac at Tampa Executive Airport.

“Welcome to Tampa, big girl. Welcome to Tampa. A whole new life,” she said as she pulled Poppy out of her cage.

Courtney Canada-Couturier of Maxx and Me Pet Rescue is waiting with the promise that these pups will remain in foster homes until they are adopted.

“It’s always very exciting. We literally wake up and say today is a great day to save a life, but without people like Randy and the pilots who give their time, money and effort to bring these dogs here, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to save these particular dogs,” Canada-Couturier said.

Vivi and Poppy are now safe in the hands of Courtney Canada-Couturier with Maxx and Me Pet... — Vivi and Poppy are now safe in the hands of Courtney Canada-Couturier with Maxx and Me Pet Rescue.(WC television)

He said dogs have a bright future.

“They will definitely be adopted,” she said. “We are a foster home. We don’t have any facilities, so all of our dogs go directly to homes where they meet the dogs and find out what a perfect permanent home is like for them.”

“It’s always a good day when I can do something worthwhile for dogs and people,” Hock said as he helped load the pups into Canada-Couturier’s car. “I’m taking a bath,” he said, laughing as Vivi licked his face.

Hock said returning home after these trips is always special.

“It’s a wonderful feeling. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that they’re going to have a better life,” she said.

As he soars once again over the Gulf and above the clouds, he is encouraged just by knowing that he and many others are doing everything they can to make a difference – one animal, sometimes two at a time.

The trip back to Tallahassee, somewhere above the clouds.(WC television)

For Poppy, it only took a few weeks. Now she has a new home and a new name. Vivi has just been spayed and is now ready for her forever home.

As for the cats and dogs that were in that transport van, the shelter tells us that all of them, including the older toy poodle and the three-legged bull terrier, have since been adopted.

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