Matilda was rescued from a high kill shelter in So Cal by a couple of graduate students, Abe Ammari and Meghan Biundo. They found her forever home but it was ways away – in Wayandotte, MI! New mom was willing to drive to Chicago, IL to pick up her new baby to make the transport shorter. It took seven legs and efforts of seven PNP pilots (Jason Chipkin, Jerry Kapp, Brian Schober, Ralph Scargall, Ken Mason, Jared Alexander and Tom de Torres ) and two overnight fosters (Troy Sanchez and Hannah Matthews, and myself) to bring this beautiful girl to meet her new mom.

When the trip was planned, we decided to offer a ride along to another animal in need – that’s how we met Steph Tjosvold from Midwest Animal Rescue. She needed an emergency ride for a mom with nine 2 w.o. puppies from Magnolia, AR, to Minneapolis, MN. Jared kindly agreed to fly to Magnolia to pick up the family. Two pilots from Milwaukee, WI, – Bob Helfferich and Don Rieser – covered that part of their trip that went beyond Matilda’s. After overnight with Tom’s family and TLC from his wife and daughter, mom+9 were ready for the rest of their trip.

Both transports were successful. Mom+9 arrived safely to Minneapolis. We were afraid that she might get stressed out and stop nursing but it didn’t happen – babies had their meals before, after, and mid- flight. They settled in for the time being in a foster home.

Matilda’s mom, Aubrey Biundo, was thrilled to see her new baby girl! She came to meet her with Benny, her Frenchie, and told us that she already had a program how to make things work for both dogs; she already had Matilda enrolled in obedience class!

It was really amazing experience for me as a trip coordinator – thank you, guys, for making this transport a success!