Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the east coast of the United States hard, displacing hundreds of animals and causing one pilot to leap into action. Southwest Airlines captain Matthew Prebish was able to airlift 145 displaced shelter animals last Saturday, Oct. 12.
Hear how this heroic flight came to pass and which of the flight’s rescue animals captured Prebish’s heart forever.
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Getting Off the Ground
Animal shelter employees around the country routinely work around the clock to provide their animals with the best possible care. In the case of Hurricanes Milton and Helene, the best caretaking decision these shelters could make for their animals was to put them on a plane and bid them a hard goodbye. Such an emergency flight was made possible by Greater Good Charities, who partnered with Southwest Airlines and Lucky Dog Animal Rescue to bring animals to safety.
“At Southwest Airlines, we lead with our Hearts to provide assistance where it is needed, and we were honored to lend an aircraft for this rescue flight to transport these animals to their forever homes,” Whitney Eichinger, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Southwest Airlines says.
When he heard his employer was involved, Prebish jumped at the chance to pilot the emergency flight. In addition to Prebish, around 60 volunteers came together to make the emergency flight happen.
Two volunteers carry crate of shelter animals onto blue airplane
Stephen M. Keller
The emergency flight included around 145 cats and dogs temporarily housed at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue’s Rescue Campus in South Carolina to safety in Milwaukee, WI, on Oct. 12, 2024. The affected animals had previously been relocated from shelters in Eastern Tennessee and Florida in the path of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Pilot Falls in Love With Kitten
After landing, a total of eight Midwest animal shelters took in the displaced animals and are currently in the process of giving them the thorough medical care they need before being put up for adoption. But one rescue animal caught the eye of a particular Southwest Airlines pilot, becoming the first of the bunch from the emergency flight to be adopted.
“Once we landed in Milwaukee, [I] started to notice the animals a little bit more,” Prebish says. “One of them caught my attention, and then, [I] ended up taking a cat home.”
Close up of kitten being held in cockpit of plane
Stephen M. Keller
The cat in question is Avery, a fourth-month-old female kitten who now lives with Prebish and three fur siblings in Texas: Smalls the cat, Tahoe the Labrador retriever, and Wrigley the golden retriever. In addition to being adorable, Prebish took to Avery’s personality right away.
“I opened the crate up a little bit to kind of let her see if she would really come out, Prebish says. “And immediately, her head popped out and she was just looking around and she’s just had this personality that she wants to explore the world and just see everything that the world has to offer.”
For a kitten who wants to explore the world, it’s hard to beat having an airline pilot for a dad!
