Valley rescue pets flown to Utah to alleviate shelter overcrowding

More than 30 Southern Nevada rescue dogs and cats were flown to Utah early Monday as part of an effort to relieve shelter overcrowding in the Las Vegas Valley.

The animals were loaded onto an airplane at the North Las Vegas Airport at 5 a.m. for a flight to Salt Lake City thanks to assistance from the national aviation non-profit Dog Is My CoPilot, which provided the aircraft and aviator.

“We are doing something we have never done before,” said Kelsey Pizzi, communications manager for The Animal Foundation in Las Vegas. “For the first time we are flying dogs and cats to another city in another state to find new homes.”

Pizzi said the animals flown to Utah were not among the more than 50 dogs taken to The Animal Foundation for shelter last week as part of two separate animal abuse cases in the Las Vegas Valley, leading to the arrest of three people. However, Monday’s flight allowed for the shelter to clear space for the new dogs that arrived at the rescue.

“Las Vegas is overcrowded with animals as a lot of people know, but believe it or not, there are some cities that have the opposite problem,” Pizzi said. “They have more adopters than available animals, so it is a win-win situation.”

Volunteers from Las Vegas, Henderson and animal control workers participated in Monday morning’s loading of the animals at the airport. Pilot Coordinator Frank Maresca from Dog Is My CoPilot said he looked forward to getting the dogs to Utah.

“It is a good thing to do,” Maresca said, adding “There are a lot of animals that need to be moved. We move them to shelter areas where they can get adopted.”

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.