Los Angeles County Pets Take Flight to Forever Homes

As part of a collaboration between the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control (DACC), Annenberg PetSpace, Steven Latham Productions, and Dog Is My CoPilot, dozens of LA County dogs will soon be taking the trip of their lives. On May 18, 2023, dozens of dogs from DACC animal care centers will take flight and arrive ready to go to their forever homes in Utah and Idaho.

Animal transport programs move animals from higher volume animal care centers to areas of the country that are experiencing a shortage of shelter animals. These win-win programs save thousands of animal lives each year.

“Our region is currently overwhelmed with homeless pets, which can lead to overcrowding in our care centers,” said DACC Director Marcia Mayeda. “By transporting these wonderful, family-ready pets to areas where there is a scarcity of adoptable animals, they get a better chance at a forever home, and we can save more animals here in LA County.”

“There are so many wonderful pets at the LA County Animal Care Centers,” said Steven Latham, Creator of the PBS Series, Shelter Me. “My hope is that more people in our community embrace the shelters and adopt a loving family member. At the same time, Dog Is My CoPilot and the receiving shelters in the Northwest are doing a beautiful thing by helping our shelter pets with this lifesaving flight.”

Dog is My CoPilot is a non-profit that transports at-risk animals from overcrowded shelters to adoption centers in other geographic regions where loving families are waiting. Peter E. Rork, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and lifelong pilot, cofounded the organization in 2012 with the goal of saving as many animal lives as possible. Since its inception, they have helped save the lives of over 23,000 dogs and cats with their transport flights.

“We believe that collaboration is key to saving more lives and are humbled by the hard work that our shelter partners do every day for the animals in their care,” said Peter Rork, M.D., Chief Pilot and President of DIMC. “This rescue effort is a model for partnership and we hope it will inspire more people to work together for the greater good of our animal friends. These dogs think we’re saving them but at the end of the day, they save us. They give us the chance to do good and help, to live with a greater purpose than ourselves.”