Humanity Takes Flight: Man Purchases Airplane to Rescue Homeless Dogs and Fly Them to Safety
There was no reason to think a 14-year-old dog up for euthanasia at a shelter in North Carolina would ever be saved.
Covered in parasites and sores, it was clear that her owners had kept her outside, probably for her whole life, and had never taken her to the vet. Then they dumped her at the shelter.
But now Emma gets to sleep on her first dog bed ever — all thanks to a very special pilot.
In the spring of 2013, network engineer and Army veteran Paul Steklenski decided to take up flying. As he was training and getting his license, he decided he wanted to welcome a dog into his family. These two things seemed totally unrelated at the time.
“We went to pet stores and then we went to shelters, and started to learn the difference,” Steklenski told The Dodo. Steklenski learned all about the amazing network of animal lovers who work to save unwanted dogs from shelters. And through this network Steklenski had never known about before, he found his new family member.
“We adopted Tessa in August 2013,” he said. “And it just changed me. It changed everything about me.”
