Camp Lejeune Marine’s dog and her puppies fly to new life
By: CHARLIE NORTON | MyNC
Published: November 04, 2012
Roxie and her puppies
RALEIGH, N.C. —
A mother dog and her litter of seven puppies flew from Raleigh to new lives in New Hampshire Sunday thanks to North Carolina animal lovers and volunteer pilots.
Kathy Hynes, a teacher from Raeford, learned from the Carolina Animal Protection Society (CAPS) in Jacksonville, N.C. that the dogs needed new homes. She says their master was a Marine who returned from overseas to Camp Lejeune to learn that this wife was leaving him and that his beloved dog, Roxie, was pregnant. In fact he came home one morning as Roxie was giving birth to a litter of seven.
To add to the Marine’s problems, he’s being deployed again and he knew he couldn’t care for Roxie and the puppies. That’s when he contacted CAPS.
Kathy Hynes and Dr. Donoghue prepare Roxie
CAPS called Hynes who has saved dogs before with the help of Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter in Manchester, N.H.
The New Hampshire shelter had room for the dogs, if Hynes could get them there.
That’s when Hynes got in touch with Pilots N Paws, a group of pilots who volunteer their airplanes, time and fuel to transport dogs to distant locations.
Kathy Hynes, Dr. Brian Donoghue and Roxie
Dr. Brian Donoghue, an emergency room physician at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, is a member of that group and agreed to help ferry Roxie and family to New Hampshire.
Sunday morning Dr. Donoghue and Kathy loaded Roxie and her puppies into his Cessna and flew to Annapolis, Md., where another Pilots N Paws member picked them up and flew them to New Hampshire.
Hynes said Sunday night the dog family has arrived safely in New Hampshire where the shelter will make sure they’re spayed and neutered and will see to it that they’re adopted out to loving homes.
Roxie’s ready to fly
Journey Ewell at the New Hampshire shelter said the dog family arrived safely Sunday night. Roxie and the puppies will move in with a foster family until the puppies are eight weeks old when they’ll be neutered and offered for adoption. Roxie will also be neutered and adopted out.
Dr. Donoghue holding one of the puppies as he flies them to the start of their new lives
