With every tragedy comes new strength

June 3, 2024

A tornado flipped our aircraft causing significant damage

As many of you know, severe thunderstorms have impacted a million or so lives in Texas and other parts of the southwest. It is with great sadness for us to share, on Tuesday May 28, The Sequel (one of our Cessna Caravan rescue airplanes) was in Addison, Texas for scheduled maintenance when a tornado destroyed the aircraft. Thankfully, no people or animals were injured in this accident. Our thoughts are with the greater Dallas community that is impacted by this storm, and for the hundreds of dogs and cats in shelters awaiting transportation to their new life

At Dog Is My CoPilot, we work with over 200 animal shelters and rescues nationwide. Powered by national non-profit Petco Love, we secure rescue partners who find each and every one a loving home. Each of our aircrafts transport 3,500 pets to safety each year. This accident will impact our operations significantly and we are working diligently to find alternative lifesaving solutions while this aircraft is repaired or replaced.

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With every tragedy comes new strength.

In the short term, we are reaching out to additional air rescue organizations to help fill the gaps with our scheduled flights. The ‘Big Dog’ and ‘The Pup’ (The original smaller Dog Is My CoPilot plane) will be wheels-up every day supporting partners on the West Coast. In the long-term, we are looking into options to replace ‘The Sequel’ and bring another Caravan back into our fleet.

While sharing the news of this tragic accident is difficult, we must remember we have a lot to be thankful for. Over the last several months both our Caravans have been flying nearly every day of the week. In fact, on one day last week both caravans had over 150 furry friends on board heading to brighter futures on their journey home! We even celebrated flying our 33,000th passenger, Giselle, a sweet chihuahua mix. Left abandoned at El Paso Animal Services, in El Paso Texas with an injured leg, she got the “Golden Ticket” and arrived at the Animal Adoption Center in Jackson, Wyoming. She has been settling into her foster home and stealing the hearts of everyone she meets!

Photos by: Grace Peck

Thank you for all your love and support.

Your unwavering dedication to helping shelter pets is what keeps our team moving forward. We will keep you updated on the outcome of ‘The Sequel’ as we know more. Together with our community of animal lovers, and all our shelter and rescue partners nationwide, we will continue to work hard saving the lives of shelter pets nationwide.

With love and gratitude,

Peter and The Dog Is My CoPilot team