NBCUniversal Local, Greater Good Charities, The Animal Rescue Site and Hill's Pet Nutrition are partnering on two special life-saving pet airlifts expected to include approximately 200 at-risk cats and dogs on Aug. 2 and Aug. 30 to coincide with Clear The Shelters, NBCUniversal Local’s annual pet adoption and donation campaign that runs Aug. 1 to 31.
The Clear The Shelters airlifts will focus on cats and dogs from overpopulated shelters in Florida and Louisiana, and will include vulnerable pets, like asymptomatic heartworm positive shelter dogs, homeless cats and large dogs. The pets will be transported to shelters in Massachusetts and New Jersey, where they will be evaluated and receive needed medical care before being put up for adoption.
The airlifts are part of Greater Good Charities’ Good Flights program and funded by Hill’s Pet Nutrition and The Animal Rescue Site. The special missions are scheduled to celebrate the monthlong 2022 Clear The Shelters campaign, when NBC and Telemundo owned and affiliated stations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico partner with shelters and rescues to promote pet adoption and raise needed funds. Since its 2015 inception, Clear The Shelters has helped more than 700,000 pets find new homes.
Flight 1 – South Florida to Massachusetts – Aug. 2
To kickoff Clear The Shelters, the first flight is scheduled for Aug. 2 and will include approximately 150 cats from south Florida. The chartered plane will depart Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at approximately 7 a.m. ET and arrive at New Bedford Regional Airport in Massachusetts between 12 and 1 p.m. ET. The cats will be received by Northeast Animal Shelter and MSPCA-Angell in Massachusetts and Monadnock Humane Society in New Hampshire.
Sending shelters are Humane Society of Broward County, Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League, Humane Society of Vero Beach & Indian River County, and Humane Society of the Treasure Coast.
Flight 2 – New Orleans to New Jersey – Aug. 30
At the end of Clear The Shelters, a second flight scheduled for Aug. 30 will transport approximately 50 dogs from Louisiana. The flight is planned to depart New Orleans Lakefront Airport at approximately 6 a.m. ET and arrive at Morristown Airport at approximately 11 a.m. ET. The dogs will be received in New Jersey by St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center.
The sending shelters in Louisiana are Acadiana Animal Aid, Cara’s House, Iberville Parish Shelter & Animal Control, Lafourche Parish Animal Shelter, St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter, St. Martin Parish Animal Shelter, Save a Pet, and Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter.
- Media interested in covering the departure or arrival events should contact Brian Potter at [email protected].
In addition to helping fund the flight mission, The Animal Rescue Site is donating much needed supplies to the participating shelters, and Hill's Pet Nutrition is donating more than 6,000 pounds of food to support pets at the participating sending and receiving shelters.
Greater Good Charities, a global nonprofit organization that works to help people, pets and the planet, is the fundraising partner for Clear The Shelters, which will again feature online donations. Since 2007, Greater Good Charities has provided more than $400 million in cash grants, in-kind supplies and programmatic support worldwide. Through Good Flights, Greater Good Charities, conducts life-saving airlifts and supports ground transport for at-risk pet populations with a heavy focus on asymptomatic heartworm positive shelter dogs, homeless cats, harder to place large size dogs and disaster relief pets.
Hill's Pet Nutrition, a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive and a global leader in science-led pet nutrition, is a national sponsor of Clear The Shelters for the fifth straight year. Hill’s also supports shelter pets year-round through its Food, Shelter & Love program, which provides science-led nutrition to more than 800 shelters in the US and Canada and has helped more than 12 million pets find new homes since 2002.
The first Clear The Shelters pet airlift was conducted on the opening day of the 2021 campaign (Aug. 23). The mission included more than 150 cats and dogs who were transported from Louisiana to New Jersey and Massachusetts, where the pets were adopted into new homes.
For more information on Clear The Shelters, including participating animal shelters and rescues, along with details on local events, visit ClearTheShelters.com and the Spanish-language site DesocuparLosAlbergues.com.
Follow Clear The Shelters on social media:
- Twitter @ClearTheShelter
- Instagram: cleartheshelters
- Hashtags: #ClearTheShelters & #DesocuparLosAlbergues
