Dogs' prayers answered by people with wings

SMITHFIELD -- ******

CORRECTION

A story Tuesday in the Triangle & Co. section confused the percentage of pets taken to shelters nationwide that are euthanized with the percentage that are adopted. The 18 percent figure cited in the story reflects adoptions, not euthanizations.

****** On a frosty weekend morning, the only front-seat passenger aboard a Piper Cherokee flying out of Smithfield squats on four legs, drools on the upholstery and answers to the name "Rex."

About a week ago, Rex arrived at the Johnston County animal shelter, given up by a Fort Bragg soldier heading overseas. But on this day, he's buckled in for a 700-mile flight to Keene, N.H., dreaming of a warm bed, ear scratches and home.

In the last year, volunteer pilots with the nonprofit group Pilots N Paws have rescued hundreds of cuddly beasts from shelters or bad homes and shuttled them to happy owners across the country. Early in January, a single plane took 52 dogs and cats out of rural southern Georgia. In December, a Pilots N Paws flight took a Doberman abandoned along a highway in Tennessee to a rescue group in Pennsylvania, where the staff named him "Christmas."

"I flew 35 dogs last year," said Marty Hutto, a retired Air Force veteran from Virginia who helped get Rex to New Hampshire on Saturday. "But I know a guy who flew 100 last year."

Established in 2008, Pilots N Paws works entirely off its Web site, where available fliers can check postings about animals in need of a ride. The idea is to open up adoption to a wider base and to free cash-strapped shelters and rescue groups the cost of shuttling dogs and cats by car.

"This opens up so many more avenues," said Ernie Wilkinson, director of Johnston County Animal Services, due for its third Pilots N Paws flight today. "Word is getting out we're participating, and they call our people. It creates another market is what it does."

On average, about 18percent of animals taken to shelters nationwide will be euthanized, Wilkinson said. In Johnston County, the figure stands at about 50 percent.

In Smithfield, volunteer animal rescuer Joy Frannicola joined Pilots N Paws last summer and has arranged four flights, including the one Saturday with Rex. Sometimes, she said, private jets fly 20 animals at a time, pulling out the seats to make way for crates.

Taking geography out of the adoption equation has benefits beyond finding more people. In northern states, Wilkinson said, more regions have mandatory spay and neuter programs, making the overpopulation problem smaller.

In New Hampshire, Rex landed with a breeder who now donates all her time to rescue. Frannicola has sent eight dogs there, and all of them ended up in lasting homes.

But for Hutto, there's a stronger pull that gets him into a cockpit on cold Saturday mornings with a lab for a co-pilot.

"When you look in a child's face when you hand them their dogs," he said, "there's nothing like that."