Betty, a pit bull that was struck by a car in rural Georgia and left for dead, is helped off a plane Saturday at Pittsfield Municipal Airport by local police Capt. Matthew Kirchner. Betty is getting a new lease on life thanks to Kathy “Skippy” Hynes, who runs Got Spots, Etc., a nonprofit animal rescue.
PITTSFIELD — Hit by a car and abandoned on the side of the road in Georgia, Betty, a doe-eyed pit bull, seemed bound for an early death.
Her leg was broken in two places. Her elbow was shattered. She faced a protracted road to recovery.
Then Kathy “Skippy” Hynes, 68, entered the picture. The Adams-based animal rescuer learned about the injured dog through her robust network of animal charities. None of her counterparts at other agencies expressed interest in the dog, but Hynes has committed to giving “Betty” a second chance.
“We do what we can to help,” she said Saturday at Pittsfield Municipal Airport as she waited for a volunteer pilot to land with Betty and three other dogs.
Kathy “Skippy” Hynes, the president of Got Spots Etc., embraces Starsky, a Dachshund-mix, after he arrived at Pittsfield Municipal Airport on Saturday with three other dogs.
“I’ve got a special spot in my heart for ‘Pitties,'” she added, using a nickname to describe the type of dog thought to be descended form terriers and bulldogs. “Nobody was stepping up for her.”
So Hynes did. That’s why she waited at the airport on a crisp December afternoon for the arrival of Chris Galuardi, an anesthesiologist and pilot.
Galuardi estimates he’s flown some 720 dogs, cats and rabbits since he started volunteering for Pilots N Paws, a nonprofit that links pilots to animal rescuers. He arrived in Pittsfield with Betty and the other dogs in tow.
“I love animals. I’m a pet owner. I tend to adopt older animals that nobody wants,” Maryland-based Galuardi said after crawling out of his plane. “This is a way to not only help animals, but also to fly.”
Bundled in crates were Hooch and Starsky, two Dachshund-mixes thought to be siblings who were found running along an interstate in South Carolina. There was also Moe, a solid Great Dane-Labrador retriever mix who Hynes said made a remarkable recovery after being found malnourished and “full of worms” in North Carolina.
Geraldine McQuoid greets Moe, a Great Dane-Labrador retriever mix that she adopted, at the Pittsfield Municipal Airport on Saturday.
Moe is bound for his new permanent home living with Geraldine McQuoid, who waited excitedly on the tarmac. She snapped a leash to Moe’s collar and promised him an excellent future.
“You’re gonna have a wonderful rest of your life,” said McQuoid, who herself rescues horses.
It takes a team to save even one animal, Hynes said. She ticks through the list of people who support her cause, from the board of her nonprofit to the boosters who help with with everything from ferrying dogs to vet appointments and foster homes, to lending her emotional support when the weight of the mission seems too big to bear.
She is liberal with her use of the word “amazing” to describe the network of people up and down and the East Coast who work together to pluck dogs from kill shelters, rehabilitate them, and find their forever homes.
Hynes is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, having served as a combat nurse on several tours overseas. After her military service she served as a nurse in North Carolina, airborne on medical transport flights. All the while, she has been rescuing dogs for some 25 years.
Hooch, who was found alongside an interstate in South Carolina, made the trip north to Pittsfield through the Adams-based rescue nonprofit, Got Spots Etc, and is bound for the Animal Rescue Foundation in Beacon, N.Y.
She moved back to her hometown of Adams about eight years ago to care for her mother, whom she worked alongside when she launched her nonprofit rescue organization, Got Spots Etc. Living in North Carolina, she saw the sheer number of dogs that are killed because shelters are overrun.
Tears fill her eyes as she recounted the terrified animals and awful practices she observed firsthand at shelters — she spent a year lobbying for bans on the use of gas chambers for animal euthanasia.
Geraldine McQuoid greets rescue dogs on the tarmac at Pittsfield Municipal Airport. She adopted Moe, a Great Dane-Labrador retriever mix who was found malnourished in North Carolina.
The number of animals Hynes has helped is vast and growing. Right now, she says she’s focusing much of her energy on Betty, raising funds for her medical care and ultimately aiming to restore him to full health.
Those who wish to help out the effort can make a donation to Berkshire Veterinary Hospital on Crane Avenue in Pittsfield, and specify that it’s for Betty, the trauma dog, she said. She also accepts donations through the PayPal account on the nonprofit’s website.
“I’ve seen so much death and trauma,” she said. “If I can just help one animal at a time to have a better life and get healthy and get it in a loving home, then I felt I’ve done something.”