Ark-Valley Humane Society had a busy Friday afternoon May 9 as it welcomed seven animal transfers by plane.
Five dogs, including a trio of Chihuahua pups, and two cats landed at Central Colorado Regional Airport in Buena Vista around 2 p.m., greeted by a team of AVHS staff and volunteers.
AVHS does several transfers a year, varying year to year depending on needs in other shelters and their own capacity.
“It really changes,” said Abbie Fritz, medical and transfer coordinator. “We used to do a lot more, and then last year we had a change in our patterns here where we were getting a lot more stray animals that were not being picked back up. So, due to not having as much room, we hadn’t been doing as many transfers this year. This year, we’ve done maybe two or three before this.”
It’s part of a trend, she said, of AVHS finding itself fuller than usual.
“We try to help whenever we can,” Fritz said, “but unfortunately, it has been a little less lately.”
The May 9 crew came from Kanab, Utah, in addition to another litter of five puppies that transferred to AVHS on May 7.
This is the first transfer-by-plane AVHS has had in a long time and the first one in the current team’s memory. The transfer was done with Dog Is My Copilot, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to transport animals by airplane from overcrowded shelters to adoption centers where families are waiting to adopt a new pet.
Fritz said she spoke with Lynette Duford, DIMC’s rescue flight coordinator, who was excited about AVHS’ proximity to their airport.
“She was talking about putting us in contact with some of the other shelters they work with frequently to do these,” Fritz said, “so hopefully it’ll be something we can do more of.”
Though they’ve been doing fewer in recent years, it’s still meaningful for the AVHS crew to be able to welcome these transfers.
“It’s great to be able to bring in any animals,” Fritz said. “In our community, they just fly out the door. It’s amazing how many kittens get adopted out of here, and puppies, and how quickly, versus other shelters.”
Some shelters, she said, may have litters of puppies for several months before they get adopted.
“And adult dogs,” she said. “We can always bring in dogs that are going to be really adoptable.”
Sometimes, AVHS can get backed up with strays who don’t get picked up or animals with “different kinds of quirks” or special needs, “but sometimes you’ll have the space and you’ll see a dog somewhere else and think, ‘Oh my gosh, that dog is going to get adopted in a minute,’” Fritz said. “It’s so nice to be able to transfer them in and give them that chance because that’s not the case everywhere.”
That adoptable animals “fly out the door” tells Fritz “that we’re pretty awesome here,” she said. “It means our community is great and we’ve got a lot of great dog lovers and good animal people that are able to take in all of these animals that don’t have a chance in other places.”
As the plane touched down Friday afternoon, Dog Is My Copilot pilot Frank Maresca helped to deplane the precious cargo to load into the AVHS van and a volunteer’s car. It was smiles all around, from the volunteers and the pilot to the happy dogs and cats heading to their new digs.
One of the newcomers she was most excited for was Rufus, a “tripod” (three-legged) dog ready for retirement after working as a ranch dog.
“I think he’s gonna be a perfect dog here,” Fritz said. “He’s gonna get a bit of a plush life. He’ll get treated like a couch dog, but he can still go outside.”
In addition to three 3-pound Chihuahua puppies, the AVHS crew welcomed “the sweetest gray pittie girl,” a Staffy named Maylee.
“Her entire comment section is just how sweet she is,” Fritz said. “They have videos of her, and she just looks like the sweetest, cuddliest little thing. She’s dog-friendly, people-friendly, kid-friendly, so that’s going to be pretty great.”
On the feline front were Latte, a friendly female tortoiseshell, and Momo, a handsome male brown tabby.
“It’s great because we’ve actually been in kind of a cat shortage, which also happened last year,” Fritz said. “As the transfer coordinator, I’m constantly reaching out to other shelters, ‘We have room, send your cats over here.’
“We were getting kittens there for a while. It’s a seasonal thing,” she said. “We have regular numbers, and then it drops off and we’re not getting any adult cats, and then kitten season starts. So then we have all these kittens in foster care because they aren’t old enough to be here yet. And as soon as they get old enough … they get adopted.”
Fritz noted the importance of recognizing “that other shelters and other areas are really not as fortunate as we are, with having enough people to adopt. … It’s really nice for us to be able to help out.”
To see adoptable animals, visit Ark-Valley.org.
