Pets from Paradise: Spirit
So far, karma has worked for Spirit, a strawberry blond dog found along the side of Northshore Road on St. Croix one night before Christmas. Spirit is lucky because the person who picked her up has a good chance of finding a permanent home for her and getting the pup to the mainland if a home is available there.
Donna Cascarelli, who makes the nonprofit program Pets From Paradise work, has been providing foster care for Spirit, who she describes as a sweet, gentle canine. Cascarelli thinks the dog is 1-2 years old and probably a chow/golden retriever mix. She weighs about 30 pounds. The dog was diagnosed with heartworm, so Cascarelli is keeping Spirit in her home until she completes an expensive six-week prescribed treatment period, after which Spirit will be healthy and ready for adoption. In the case a home isn't found in the territory, Cascarelli said she will find a way to fly Spirit to a stateside rescue or permanent home.
"It will be hard to give her up,” Cascarelli said. “She's such a sweetie, but I have to make room for the next foster (dog)."
Pets From Paradise is a 501 c 3 non-profit within the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center. With the help of other advocates, sporadic funding has been found to pay for pet travel and Cascarelli made contacts with rescue operations and animal shelters in the U.S.
Currently there are about 50 locations that accept pets from the territory.
"If anyone considers adopting from the States, I always line up a partner rescue in the area who will be ready to step in and accept the animal if it doesn't work out," Cascarelli said. "Adopting a pet sight-unseen can easily turn out to be a bad match, even with the best of intentions, so it's reassuring to everyone to have that contingency plan in place."
According to airline regulations, all pets traveling from St. Croix must be accompanied by a human, who picks up or meets the pet at the airport, carries it on board and makes sure it is picked up at the destination by the designated entity.
Only a few cats have traveled with Pets From Paradise because there are only two partner rescues that accept cats – in Washington, D.C., and New York. Cascarelli said it is hard to find travelers willing to travel with cats because many people have allergies and getting through TSA holding a feline can be tricky.
Since 2004, approximately 2,000 pets were placed in stateside homes through Pets From Paradise, according to statistics from the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center and the FixIt Foundation. Statistics were not available for 2009 and 2010.
During the years that more pets were placed, the euthanasia rate at was lower. In 2004, 77 percent of 4,057 animals were put to sleep and 326 pets flew north.
Last year, only 172 animals were transported to the states and the euthanasia rate was said to be 81 percent. More than 2,800 animals were taken into the shelter in 2013 and, while the intake numbers decreased slightly, about four out of five animals that end up in the shelter every year do not make it out.
Spirit can be flown to many U.S. cities. To see Spirit in action, click here for a short video.
For more information, to travel with a pet or to make a donation for airfare, call Cascarelli at 340-718-1850 or email petsfromparadise@stcroixawc.org. Donations are tax deductible.
http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2014/01/23/pets-paradise-spirit
Pets from Paradise needs travelers to help transfer St. Croix pets to our partner shelters and rescue groups on the mainland. St. Croix faces the challenge of a limited full-time resident population. There are simply not enough people who are full-time residents on this island to adopt the number of pets that arrive at our animal shelter.
Help us by becoming a travel partner for a St. Croix animal on his or her way to a home at one of our partner shelters in the U.S. mainland.
• Contact St. Croix AWC
• AWC depends on travelers and sponsors to pay for the pet’s ticket
• Provide your return flight information and final destination
• Our staff will make reservations with the partner shelter
• Our staff will meet you at the St. Croix airport with the pet
• Partner shelter’s staff will meet you at the final destination airport
http://www.stcroixawc.org/programs/pets-from-paradise/
I will be taking a business trip back to the states in a few weeks and definitely get in touch with Pets from Paradise to see if my destination is useful to them, what an easy way to make a difference!
Way to go! Our islands' animals need all the help they can get as do the people and organizations that support them!
Good morning all!
Just a general update on pet flights right now,
(Things change almost daily in this reguard!)
Currently AA is not flying dogs to the north east in cargo.
This is due to the extrem cold temps recently.
United is currently not providing its Pet First program out of STT.
They could not tell me when it will resume.
They are still providing it from SJU.
That means that animals leaving STX must be under the set size for,
US air, jet blue or AA.
I am currently working with the AWC to get a HW+ guy of STX to a rescue in upstate NY.
We finally had to go w Delta out of STT ( climate controlled cargo )
And seaborne from STX to STT.
Long story short....
Anyone willing to travel w an under the set pet is very very helpful!!!
Puppies, small dogs and cats get a chance!
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