145 shelter animals rescued by pilot during hurricane chaos

Hurricanes Helena and Milton hit the East Coast of the United States hard, displacing hundreds of animals and causing one pilot to jump into action. Southwest Airlines captain Matthew Prebish was able to transfer the plane 145 displaced animals from the shelter last Saturday, October 12.

Listen to how this heroic flight happened and which of the rescue animals captured Prebiš’s heart forever.

Taking it off the ground

Employees at animal shelters across the country routinely work around the clock to provide their animals with the best possible care. In the case of Hurricanes Milton and Helena, the best care decision these shelters they could make for their animals was to put them on a plane and say goodbye to them hard. Such an emergency flight made it possible Greater Good Charitieswhich partnered with Southwest Airlines and Happy animal rescue dog to bring the animals to safety.

“At Southwest Airlines, we lead with our hearts to provide help where it’s needed, and we were honored to lend the aircraft for this rescue flight to transport these animals to their forever homes,” Whitney Eichinger, senior vice president and chief communications officer at Southwest Airlines says.

When he heard that his employer was involved, Prebish seized the opportunity for piloting an emergency flight. In addition to Prebiš, about 60 volunteers gathered to make an emergency flight.

The emergency flight included approximately 145 cats and dogs temporarily housed at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue’s campus in South Carolina to safety in Milwaukee, WI on October 12, 2024. The affected animals were previously moved from a shelter in East Florida to Tennessee and the path of Hurricanes Helena and Milton.

A pilot falls in love with a kitten

After the landfall, a total of eight Midwestern animal shelters took in the displaced animals and are currently in the process of providing them with the basic medical care they need before being placed up for adoption. But one rescue animal caught the eye of a certain Southwest Airlines pilot, becoming the first of the emergency flight crowd to be adopted.

“When we landed in Milwaukee, (I) started noticing the animals a little more,” Prebish says. “One of them caught my attention, and then (I) ended up taking the cat home.”

The cat in question is Avery, a four-month-old kitten who now lives with Prebish and three furry siblings in Texas: Smalls, Tahoe Labrador retrieverand Wrigley the golden retriever. Besides being sweet, Prebish immediately picked up on Avery’s personality.

“I opened the crate a little bit to kind of let her see if she was actually going to come out,” Prebish says. the world has to offer.”

For a kitten who wants to explore the world, it’s hard to beat an airline pilot for a dad!

How to adopt a displaced pet

If you live in the Midwest and are looking to adopt a new furry friend, consider this special group of animals.

You can visit and adopt airlifted pets from the following animal shelters in Wisconsin and Illinois:

• Humane Animal Welfare Society
• Elmbrook Humane Society
• Humane Society of Washington County
• Humane Society of Jefferson County
• Dane County Humane Society
• Eau Claire Community Humane Association
• Green County Humane Society
• One Tail at a Time (Illinois)