Dr. Christopher Roberts of the Jacksonville Spine Center is a hero to the dogs that he transports from their rescue location to their “furever” home.
While he works during the week caring for his patients, he spends his weekends as a pilot to dogs who have been rescued from abuse or abandonment. He flies to locations to pick them up and then delivers them. His children sometimes fly with him on these missions that he started when he first heard about Pilots n Paws. “It is a good and noble mission,” believes Dr. Roberts who loves animals and has a pilot’s license. He gets to combine his love of flying with helping animals who might otherwise get euthanized.
My own family has rescue pets – four black cats (Jo, Esther, Priscilla, and Zeke), and a spoiled yorkie named Lanie. Any future pets will definitely come from a shelter as well. Three of our cats are a brother and two sisters. When we saw them at the shelter, we knew we couldn’t separate them, and I know that they are grateful for that. They were not quite so grateful when we added a fourth stray black cat a few years ago. But they have mostly come to terms with Zeke.
While Lanie didn’t come from a shelter, the family that she came from had failed to provide veterinarian care. Because of that neglect (which I actually think is abuse) she came to us with heart worms, and successfully came through the treatment for them.
If you are an animal lover, then consider shelter animals. If you are a super animal lover, think about fostering animals or even volunteering at an animal shelter. For more information about Pilots n Paws go to www.pilotsnpaws.org.
