Kittens flown to Oregon to find new homes, in San Diego shelter’s first transport since scandal (2024)

Nearly a third of the more than 100 cats and dogs that were flown to Oregon last week to help free up shelter space locally have since found their forever homes.

It’s the first test of the San Diego Humane Society’s new animal transport protocols, put in place following criticism over a transport last summer that met a disastrous end when hundreds of small animals went missing.

Volunteers lined dozens of crates filled with meowing kittens on the tarmac at Gillespie Field in El Cajon on Thursday morning, checking each one before stacking them all in rows on the plane bound for Portland, Ore.

The transport was part of Greater Good Charities’ Good Flights program, which transports pets from overcrowded shelters to areas where there is a need to increase their chances of being adopted.

Last week’s transport was timed just ahead of shelters’ busiest summer months and rapidly approaching kitten season, when they’re overrun with stray cats and kittens during peak breeding season.

“For every (animal) we transport, we’re making space for another, so it’s really two lives saved,” said Erin Robbins, vice president of Pet Programs at Greater Good Charities who spearheads the airlift program. “We’re just a small piece of the puzzle of getting them into homes.”

A total of 119 kittens and seven dogsfrom Southern California— including 31 kittensfrom the San Diego Humane Society— were transported to the Oregon Humane Society and Cat Adoption Team in Portland.

“While we currently have fewer kittens available for adoption, we anticipate up to 9,000 this season, making this transport beneficial,” said Dr. Gary Weitzman, president and CEO of the San Diego Humane Society. “Oregon Humane Society, in contrast, has a shortage of kittens, highlighting the importance of such transports in animal welfare.”

Each transport is special not only to Robbins, who traveled with the animals as a courier to ensure they arrived safely, but to the other crew members.

Capt. Khurram Hussain, the pilot, said the animal transports are very sought-after jobs for flight crews. “People fight over it because of the precious cargo we’re carrying,” he said. “They’re very special.”

Shelters throughout the U.S. are overwhelmed by animals. The number of stray dogs and cats being brought in has skyrocketed to historic highs this year, with no signs of slowing. Animal welfare organizations across San Diego County declared a “state of emergency” in April, as the number of pets far exceeded shelter capacity.

That’s where Greater Good comes in as a sort of matchmaker, working with shelters to move harder-to-place animals, like large dogs, to areas where they have a better chance of being adopted, said Sára Varsa, its executive vice president of programs. The nonprofit only sends animals to organizations seeking adoptable pets.

Most of the animals in the new transport come from Orange County Animal Care in densely-populated Tustin. Transporting some of its larger dogs tocooler, less crowded placesgives the animals access to homes that can adopt them no matter their size or breed, explained its director Monica Schmidt.

“Anytime we can relocate them responsibly to communities who are able to take in and find adoptable homes, it’s a huge win for both communities,” Schmidt said.

The receiving shelter partners typically begin telling their community about the transport ahead of time, which driving traffic to the shelters, leading to faster adoptions and bringing attention to pets already in their care, Varsa said.

This batch of animals arrived in Portland just in time for Saturday’s Cat Adoption Team’s Kitten Palooza, one of the largest pet adoption events in the area.

Already, one of the receiving shelters said nearly 30 percent of the pets it had received had been placed in homes, Greater Good officials said.

This is the first transport the San Diego Humane Society has completed since last summer, when hundreds of rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and hamsters it transferred to its Arizona counterpart went missing and were later presumed dead.

A monthslong investigation found that nearly all of the 323 small animals ended up in the hands of two brothers, one of whom was known to sell small animals as live food for snakes.

“This transport involved extensive discussion, especially given past challenges,” Weitzman said. “However, when conducted correctly, transports save lives.”

He said that unlike last year’s transport, this transport adhered to the San Diego nonprofit’s new protocols implemented after the scandal and will have a full accounting on all outcomes for its kittens.

Varsa said Greater Good also rigorously vets its shelter partners, taking into consideration their veterinary practices, community needs and efforts to mitigate overpopulation, such as outreach and proactive spay and neuter programs.

“We sustain (the program) on the partnerships we create between the senders and the receivers,” Varsa said. “These doors stay open because of open and honest communication, full transparency into animal health and robust protocols that keep the animals in a good position to be able to move.”

Officials also said all the pets on the flight were fully vetted and health certificated. Once they arrived in Portland, they were again evaluated and received any follow-up medical care needed before being put up for adoption.

“We couldn’t ask for better partners than Greater Good Charities and Oregon Humane Society for our first transport since last summer,” Weitzman said. “Both organizations are exemplary in the field of animal welfare.”

The San Diego shelter hopes to get help from Greater Good in transporting dogs later this year, too, he said.