PAART’s Dog Days of Summer party
The band played “Hail to the Chief” while 550 people cheered as 10 homeless puppies from Kentucky disembarked at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin on Saturday evening. No wonder they tucked their tails between their legs. Their arrival and rescue from a rural animal shelter in Morgan County, Ky., was the highlight of Pittsburgh Animal Aviation Rescue Team’s annual Dog Days of Summer party and the perfect illustration of what the nonprofit does best.
“Most of them come from Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. No one wants to kill animals, but these shelters are desperate. We know people who will adopt them,” said PAART cofounder and pilot Jonathan Plesset, whose organization transports thousands of dogs and cats each year by air and by land. (They call drivers “landpilots.”)
“Our volunteers are incredible,” said his wife, Megan, a board member. “People drive for days to help us and the dogs.” PAART co-founder Brad Childs is one of 15 volunteer pilots. “We are the gold standard. People call us from all over the country.” Although most trips are in the U.S. mainland, the group has also transported dogs from Puerto Rico and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, whose only animal shelter was destroyed in a hurricane. The organization raised $185,000 on Saturday through silent and live auctions, admissions and donations. —