Army Veteran Voluntarily Flies Dogs To New Homes

taloringer

Aug 6, 2017 10:00 AM EDT

It's Up, Up and to forever homes for these animals! All thanks to army veteran Paul Steklenski. Steklenski, Schwenlesville, Pennsylvania is your average joe. The army vet, now and in IT, had spent most of the 90's as leading officer training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 2013, he decided to take up and hobby. He decided he wanted to learn to fly. And because of this hobby, Paul was later on to do something he was passionate about... rescue animals.

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via Flying Fur Animal Rescue

The kind-hearted army vet realized he wanted to rescue animals right after he adopted his own homeless pup, Tessa from a rescue shelter.
At first Paul considered just driving to kill shelters and transporting the animals, well anywhere but there. All in a attempt to try and find them forever homes. He then realized that he could turn his flying hobby into a way to transport the animals easier, faster and even more.
via Flying Fur Animal Rescue

He started to learn how to fly in 2013 and in 2015, when he had gotten his certificate of completion, he set up his organization The Flying Fur Animal Rescue. He is said to have already single handedly saved . around 742 animals which have either been neglected or abused.
He's even gone as far as to buy his own plane for easier access.
via Flying Fur Animal Rescue

Paul has said, "Seeing the dogs at the shelter was heartbreaking. It was horrible to think that there were so many animals being euthanized because they're stuck in a certain area [...] I realized I could help make a difference by going down there, picking them up and taking them to other shelters."
So that's what he does. Paul and his wife Michelle, 46, take off a day once a month to fly to shelters, where he picks up some cats as well as dogs. In order to transport all these animals, he ripped out the seats in his plane and bought a bunch of pet carries instead. He can now transport as many as 23 animals in one trip!
via Flying Fur Animal Rescue

He flies from state to state hoping to get them a better chance of getting adopted. Paul will usually drop of the animals at safe non kill shelters in different states. He also said that the animals are so well behaved they usually fall asleep during the journey or stare out the windows.
Paul hopes to soon buy a larger plane to transport more animals. He hopes to do this for as long as possible, with hopes that other people will be inspired by this and come up with new ways to try and save these poor animals.
We couldn't be more hopeful!
via flying fur animal rescue