Homeless Voyaging Dog 'John' Gets a Cross-Country Flight for Life

About the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals

The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Inc., founded in 2002 and powered by Maddie's Fund, The Pet Rescue Foundation, with support from the ASPCA, is a coalition of more than 150 animal rescue groups and shelters working with Animal Care & Control of New York City (AC&C) to end the killing of healthy and treatable cats and dogs at AC&C shelters. To achieve that goal, the Alliance, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, helps its Alliance Participating Organizations (APOs) work to their highest potential to increase pet adoptions and spay/neuter rates, with the goal of transforming New York City into a no-kill community by 2015.

www.AnimalAllianceNYC.org

About Pet Airways

Launched in 2009, Pet Airways is the first airline specifically designed for the comfortable, efficient transportation of pets. Pet Airways' "pawsengers" travel in the specially equipped main cabin of its planes — fully-lit, climate-controlled and pressurized — with a trained pet attendant on duty at all times. With Pet Airways, pet parents can be assured their animals will be treated with tender, loving care throughout the journey. The airline provides coast-to-coast service from Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Atlanta, and Fort Lauderdale.

www.PetAirways.com

Media Contact

Carrie Hyman

M. Silver Associates

Office: (212) 754-6500 x225

Cell: (973) 951-6647

E-mail: carrie@msilver-pr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, September 10, 2010

Homeless Voyaging Dog "John" Gets a Cross-Country Flight for Life

New York, NY – Friday, September 10, 2010 – The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Pet Airways and other U.S. rescue organizations helped coordinate the extensive effort of returning John, a three-year-old Pit Bull mix, to the West Coast where he will have another chance to live and find a stable forever home.

Thanks to the Wheels of Hope for NYC's Homeless Pets transport van program — one of the many programs of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals that helps reduce the euthanasia rate of healthy and treatable animals in New York City shelters, and Pet Airways — the first airline specifically designed for the comfortable, efficient transportation of pets, a courageous homeless pooch has been given a second chance at life.

On Thursday, September 9, Melissa Donaldson, Coordinator of Veterinary Care & APO Oversight at the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals transported John, a three-year-old Pitt Bull mix, to Republic Airport in Farmingdale, Long Island, where he caught his flight via Pet Airways to Los Angeles' John Northop/Hawthorne Executive Airport en route to Nevada. John arrived in Los Angeles today, where he met the new foster caretaker who will care for him until he can be transported from LA to the Nevada SPCA.

The Mayor's Alliance worked diligently with the many rescue organizations involved, the fosters, and Pet Airways to coordinate the extensive effort of returning John to the West Coast where he will have another chance to live and find a stable forever home.

So many of the elements that help to make the Mayor's Alliance successful are working to help John — adoption, microchipping, kind foster families, shelters coast to coast, Pet Airways — we ask you to publicize his amazing story to help him find a home.

About John

John had already traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast and now is returning to the West Coast, where he will live in foster care until he finds a permanent home. John has quite a travel history; he was adopted by a family from the Nevada SPCA, however they soon moved to Delaware, where John was given away. Then, on June 30, 2010, John was found as a stray and brought to the AC&C Shelter in Brooklyn, New York, by NYPD officers, and since he is a sweet dog with no behavioral issues, he quickly found a foster family in NYC. AC&C discovered that he was microchipped, so his chip was traced back to the Nevada SPCA and his owner was located. Unfortunately, his owner did not want to take John back, but the Nevada SPCA was more than willing to take him back if they could figure out a way to transport him back to the West Coast from New York City. AC&C's New Hope team then contacted the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals to help with John's transportation.

# # #