MANASSAS, Va. – A small plane carrying 27 rescued animals touched down at the APP Jet Center in Manassas on Wednesday afternoon, marking another mission by Pilots To The Rescue.
Onboard were 15 cats and 12 dogs transported from overcrowded shelters in Birmingham, Alabama. The flight was made possible by the BISSELL Pet Foundation and volunteers like pilot Paul Mamauag and his co-pilot Mackenzie.
“A lot of these pets need rescue because unfortunately in the southern states that we have, it gets very overcrowded, especially during storms like we’ve seen in Texas and Florida,” said Mamauag. “Pets just become displaced or lost and they end up in overcrowded shelters, which unfortunately end up to euthanization.”
“Our main mission is to help rescue them from those states and move them up north to shelters that are a lot less crowded and don’t have euthanization,” he added.
The animals will be cared for by the Charles County Animal Care Center in Maryland, Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation in Virginia, and Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter in New Jersey.
“Honestly, one of my friends who’s also a volunteer rescue pilot for the El Paso Rescue Viking, he introduced me to the owner, Michael, and I hopped on a trip with him,” Mamauag said. “We went down to, I forget where, but we rescued about 35 cats that day.”
“Honestly, it was just a great feeling being able to work with them and meeting all the foster parents and the shelters and the people around. It was really inspiring and I really wanted to help out and enjoy.”
Mamauag has been a pilot for about three to four years and has flown “well over 50 missions.”
“Usually we have our typical house pets, dogs and cats, but every now and again we’ll get a couple foxes, cats, anybody that really needs help rescuing,” he said.
“Well, I believe so far we’ve done four or five this month. It’s really getting up there because of the summertime. But usually we do about once a week, once or twice a week,” he said of the mission frequency.
“Well, you can look it up on our website on podsfortherescue.org. For anyone, shelters or people looking to see if they can help move animals from those states down south to up north, that’s our biggest mean of communication,” he said. “And yeah, fantastic.”
“I love what I do, but the only reason we’re able to do what we do is due to donations of people that also love these animals,” Mamauag said. “So if you want to continue to support us, we love it and we thank you.”
