Dog Is My CoPilot partners with Austin Pets Alive! to save Texas dogs and cats

Pilot Peter (and one of our NEW volunteer pilots, Daniel) were wheels up last week with over 50 Texas dogs (and a few kittens)! We are so excited to announce we are partnering with Austin Pets Alive! monthly to help reach the most under-resourced shelters in the state of Texas. APA! staff works directly with shelters outside of Austin to coordinate animals selected for transport, required vetting and general coordination (on the ground) with receiving partners, while we offer our life saving flights directly from their hub. Our shelter and rescue partners are the real heroes  — working tirelessly to save animals in their community and taking in animals to their program helping them find homes!  

We want to give the Rachel Ray Foundation a HUGE shoutout for sponsoring our first flight with APA! and their support in helping us to stay wheels up! The Rachael Ray Foundation is an amazing partner and a big thank you to all the Nutrish pet parents out there who support the Rachel Ray Foundation by feeding Nutrish to their pets! Watch our social media feeds for updates from this flight as the passengers make their journey HOME, stay tuned!

One of our newest pilots to join the team, Daniel Wagner was the Captain of this flight and flew along with our Chief Pilot, Dr. Rork. Daniel grew up in a home where his dad flew 767’s and his mom was a flight attendant. After becoming a flight attendant himself after college, Daniel realized he really wanted to be a pilot. He quickly completed his flight training and has been transporting passengers across the islands of Hawaii in a Cessna Caravan similar to the Big Dog! When not flying, Daniel loves to mentor young minorities to achieve their aviation dreams for OBAP (Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals). Daniel’s Cessna Caravan experience, love of animals, and his passion for helping others led him to find Dog Is My CoPilot. We are excited to have Daniel be a part of our team, and help find our rescued animals a forever home.

Dog Is My CoPilot is continually working to reduce euthanasia by transporting animals from overcrowded shelters (primarily in the South) to rescue and shelter partners with adopters seeking pets. We fly as many animals as possible in a single flight to maximize efficiency and do not charge partner organizations for our transport services. Dog Is My CoPilot imagines a world without euthanasia, a world where every animal has a home, where shelters don’t suffer overcrowding and where adoptable animals don’t face euthanasia. As long as shelter overcrowding remains a reality, DIMC will maintain its vision of helping animals find safe, loving homes — one flight at a time.