Question for pilots

[lm4wildcats]

Hi, my name is Leann and I have a question for the pilots. I have been informally rehoming exotics for many years, mostly dealing with small wildcats. I work closely with many sanctuaries all over the country. Often times it's difficult to fly exotics on commercial airlines and long car rides are sometimes stressful on the animals. I was just wondering if there were pilots on here who would be willing to fly animals other than dogs, cats, and reptiles. I'm not talking about large, dangerous exotics. My most recent rescue was a baby kinkajou and I drove the 10 hours one way and back to rehome him. It would have been alot easier on everyone if we could have just flown him from NC to KY. I never know what I might be called on but some examples of the rescues we've done include bobcats, servals, lynx, kinkajou, coatimundi, fox, and small primates. Alot of times, these animals have been confiscated by animal control because the owners had them illegally or weren't taking care of them and they face euthanasia if a legal home isn't located. Are there pilots on here who would help transport these types of animals to get them to a safe, legal, forever home?

Leann

[admin]

Hi, my name is Leann and I have a question for the pilots. I have been informally rehoming exotics for many years, mostly dealing with small wildcats. I work closely with many sanctuaries all over the country. Leann

Leann, I am not a pilot, just the co-founder of Pilots N Paws but I don't think you will find a reply in the general discussion section of the forum from the pilots. Many do not have the time to read the general posts.

What I would suggest is the next time you have a reasonable distance transport request, post it to the forum board and see if any pilots reply. I do not know the legalities of transporting exotics and they would most assuredly need to be in rescue situations, not rehoming for fees and sales.

It is always up to our pilots who and where they fly. I would imagine you would need to make certain that the animals are properly contained as well-- they may need a different type of carrier then the crates our pilots use. I am only used to working with domestic rescue animals. Exotics are illegal in many states and we would never want to transport against state or federal regulations. If you have a link to a guide for handling of exotics it would be helpful to share that. I would hope that the santuaries you are sending them to are legal, licensed and humane?
Thanks
Debi

[lovinglife4]

Debi,
I just noticed you are one of the co-founders of PNP and first, I want to thank you!!! I am so impressed by such a wonderful group of pilots that
go out of their way to save so many lives. We have four puppies coming in tomorrow because of three wonderful pilots.
Also, I was going to ask if you ever have a booth at the OshKosh, NE airshow? One of the pilots flying had mentioned it would be great to have
a booth set up. I would love to offer my time to help run it if you would like. Also, I am going to order a cap/t-shirt etc and I was wondering where
the funds from sales go? I had no idea. Again, thank you for your time and all you do to make this a huge success!
Kim

[admin]

Debi,
I was going to ask if you ever have a booth at the OshKosh, NE airshow? One of the pilots flying had mentioned it would be great to have
a booth set up. I would love to offer my time to help run it if you would like. Also, I am going to order a cap/t-shirt etc and I was wondering where
the funds from sales go? I had no idea. Again, thank you for your time and all you do to make this a huge success!
Kim

Hi Kim, thank you for your kind words, I did co-found PNP but it is all of the volunteers who make it work!

Regarding OshKosh, we have had a booth there before and though it's a wonderful show, we could not justify the expense of the booth space. We use our funds carefully and where we feel they are best suited to bring awareness to what we do and to recruit pilots. Many of our pilots do attend OskKosh and just wearing our t-shirts there, carrying a few brochures with you, seems to spread the word maybe even better then a booth. Perhaps if they gave discounted space to charitable groups we would reconsider. Thanks for your offer to help us man boothspace. The funds from the PNP store go where all our funding goes--for bringing awareness to the animals in need, promoting what we do and attending some events we feel will bring us the best end result. They also go towards keeping the store stocked.
Hope this answers your questions, thanks for all you do!
Debi