While most of us are sound asleep, Peter Rork is getting ready to fly hundreds of dogs from shelters to their new lives at 5:00 a.m. Rork has devoted his life to helping others — both humans and animals.

Pilot Peter Rork, a retired surgeon, flies high-risk rescue animals from overcrowded shelters to adoption centers through his nonprofit Dog Is My CoPilot.

Founder of ‘Dog Is My CoPilot’ Dr. Peter Rork joins ‘Fox Report’ to discuss the mission of his non-profit to fly rescue dogs to their forever homes.

Every now and then, a unique concept comes down the pike, expressed by an individual who had an original thought, and I just have to slap my forehead and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” For example, I spend lots of time trying to come up with creative ways to help resolve our clear-and-present pet overpopulation problem.

STAR, Idaho (CBS 2) — When Tim Toy with Mountain America Credit comes knocking on your door, it’s good news.

He knocked on Shannon Bennecke’s door to hand over a $500 Pay It Forward.

Shannon is the founder of Green Heart Rescue. In just its first two years, Green Heart has taken in 70 dogs from around the west that would otherwise die in a shelter.

On a 100-degree day in El Paso, a Texas terrier named Tumble is enjoying a bit of fresh air while trying to beat the heat. However, most of Tumble’s time is spent inside a cage at El Paso Animal Services. She was brought to the shelter after she was found on the street, her head trapped in a fence.

“Usually in any given year, we have 25,000-30,000 animals come through the door,” said Kyla White, whose job is to help get those animals out the door. But there are far more dogs in El Paso than there are willing adopters. It’s a common story at shelters in several cities, but it’s not the story in every city.

Dog Is My CoPilot, a nonprofit air transport organization, just celebrated saving its 15,000th animal passenger.

“S’mores” just happened to be part of a well-loved group of 17 animals in El Paso, Texas. Her owner passed away this spring and the family was overwhelmed by the care needed to support all the pets. El Paso Animal Services was able to assist the family with their pets and knew she would be a good candidate for their transport program with Dog Is My CoPilot.

In the early morning hours of Thursday, a major operation was ongoing in the city’s airport to save the lives of more than a 100 animals.

A total of 54 dogs and 50 cats were saved from a local animal shelter when a plane came to the Laredo International Airport at around 4 a.m. on Thursday morning to retrieve the animals and take them to a better home.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership between the City of Laredo Animal Care Services (LACS), American Pets Alive and Dog is My Copilot, the rescue mission was successful as all of these animals were flown to bases and adoption centers in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, where new homes were waiting for them by pre-adoption chosen individuals.

With its own pet population controlled, Jackson Hole comes to the aid of other animals.

The 8-month old shepherd/mastiff thumped her tail and looked out of her crate as the tailgate opened on the gray GMC Denali. The staff of the Animal Adoption Center peered in, greeting the big dog with coos and a few “good girls.”

Her transport, loaded with puppies rescued by the Lander Pet Connection, arrived on a day in late May. Two litters of puppies also traveled in the vehicle, five tiny furballs snuggled in a lump with another puppy next to the driver for extra comfort on the three-hour drive.

ABILENE, TX — The City of Abilene’s Animal Services has teamed up with the nonprofit organization Dog Is My Copilot to relocate more than 60 animals to shelters experiencing a shortage of adoptable pets.

Abilene Animal Services staff and volunteers were at the Abilene Animal Shelter as early as 2 a.m. Friday, June 12th to begin preparing and gathering dogs and cats for their big travel day. By 5 a.m., the crated animals were on their way to Abilene Aero, and by 7 a.m., everyone was in the air, flying toward their new homes.

Dog-Rescue-R-Us is a non-profit rescue group that started in January of 2019 and has cut down on the number of animals the shelter is having to put down.

ODESSA, Texas — West Texas has been dealing with an overpopulation of homeless animals for years.

Last year, the Odessa Animal Shelter put down over 3,000 animals.

Dog-Rescue-R-Us is a non-profit rescue group that started in January of 2019 and since then they’ve made a huge dent in the number of animals the shelter is having to put down.

As founder of the nonprofit Dog Is My CoPilot, Peter Rork uses his Cessna Caravan turboprop plane to ferry dogs and cats from overcrowded shelters in which they face euthanasia to shelters that have pledged never to kill an animal in their care. Since its formation in 2012, Dog Is My CoPilot has saved the lives of more than 13,000 animals, with Rork RC’74 at the helm and in the cockpit.

LAS CRUCES — A former Las Cruces shelter dog is heading for the small screen after being drafted in this year’s Puppy Bowl XVI. It’ll air Sunday on Animal Planet before the evening’s big game.

Dracula is an adorable 6-month-old, standard bull terrier mix who was impounded at Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley as a stray along with her mom, Meena, and her brother Biggie, on July 9, 2019.

These words are often attributed to the German poet Goethe: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” They’re words Melissa Lipani just might have taken to heart the day she first saw Walter’s face.

How could she not? In one photo the pit bull and mastiff mix (who resembles a polar bear) looks tired and sad. That was taken the day he arrived at Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley (ASCMV) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. In the other, he looks happier. A kind smile lights up his face and his eyes reveal wisdom, along with a little playfulness.

JACKSON, WYO – Wednesday morning at 11:30am Peter Rork aka “Pilot Peter” founder and chief pilot of Dog is My Copilot, landed at the Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport, with him 44 dogs on an adventure for new homes. Peter is relocating the dogs from the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control center in Phoniex, AZ. Driggs was not his first or his last stop of the day today, first stop was in Utah where a receiving agency took 25 of the 69 dogs. Wednesday afternoon he was headed to Spokane, WA as his final destination on this relocation mission. Peter donates 100% of his time, flying 2 flights a week April through October.

Dog Is My CoPilot (DIMC) will be transporting nearly 60 dogs on Thursday to new shelters in hopes they’ll find their forever home.

DIMC is partnering with Tails from the Shelter, a division of Uncaged Paws, Inc., who rescue dogs and cats from overcrowded New Mexico municipal shelters, and El Paso Animal Services in El, Paso, Texas to fly dogs from the overcrowded animal shelters to animal rescue groups in Idaho that have adopters waiting for them.