GOOD FLIGHTS
GOOD FLIGHTS
Good Flights is a program of Greater Good Charities that conducts life-saving airlifts and supports ground transport for at-risk and vulnerable pet populations with a heavy focus on asymptomatic heartworm-positive shelter dogs, disaster relief, homeless cats, and harder to place large dogs. Good Flights also helps clear space in shelters and evacuate pets in times of disaster to empower communities they serve by furnishing them with tools and program support, and providing the transport of critical supplies for human and pet support during times of crisis.
Why transport? Because it saves lives and solves a real problem for overcrowded and under resourced shelters. Many shelters in the South simply don’t have enough homes for the pets in their care. To make matters worse, treatable, and curable diseases, like heartworm can be a death sentence for an otherwise adoptable pet because the cost of treatment is prohibitive. The reality for many of these pets is bleak: if you are a pet in an overcrowded shelter in the South, your chances of making it out of the shelter are poor since they are the most vulnerable.
Good Flights solves this issue by transporting adoptable pets from these shelters in need to areas where there is plenty of space and adoption demand. The result? Good Flights pet passengers are quickly adopted into forever loving homes.
Good Flights is staffed with trained and seasoned animal welfare transport professionals who adhere to best practices in pet transport. We work in concert with veterinary teams and shelter staff to select qualified transport candidates, cover all transport costs and provide mentorship to sending shelters as well as pet care supplies and cash grant support to all shelter partners. All shelter pets transported via Good Flights are done so in compliance with the USDA interstate regulations.
Good Flights targets the most at-risk and vulnerable populations of shelter pets, including asymptomatic heartworm-positive dogs, homeless cats, and harder to place large dogs. Learn more about our program and transports below.
Our "Save a Heart" initiative takes on the ambitious challenge of addressing the heartworm epidemic in the South, where the disease runs rampant. Heartworm disease is progressive and fatal but is treatable and curable in most cases when diagnosed early, and preventable with the proper medication. Unfortunately, the cost of treatment for many shelters is prohibitive—and if you are a heartworm-positive pet in an already overcrowded, under-resourced municipal shelter your chances of making it out of the shelter are slim.
Save a Heart is a life-saving initiative of Greater Good Charities’ Good Flights program that aims to reduce shelter euthanasia in overcrowded shelters by preventing and treating heartworm disease in shelter dogs, while transporting adoptable asymptomatic heartworm positive dogs to safety. Together with Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, the makers of HEARTGARD® Plus (ivermectin/pyrantel) and The Animal Rescue Site, Save a Heart transports hundreds of asymptomatic heartworm positive dogs to new homes each year. Additionally, the Save a Heart initiative helps thousands of shelter dogs in the South annually that are not transported; by providing them with medication to prevent and treat heartworm.
Good Flights is staffed with trained and seasoned animal welfare transport professionals who adhere to best practices in pet transport. We work in concert with veterinary teams and shelter staff to select qualified transport candidates, cover all transport costs and provide mentorship to sending shelters as well as pet care supplies and cash grant support to all shelter partners. All shelter pets transported via Good Flights are done so in compliance with the USDA interstate regulations.
This incredible program wouldn’t be possible without the support of our incredible partners
who are covering the cost of treatment for these heartworm-positive pets.
PEDIGREE Foundation’s mission supports Mars Petcare’s shared ambition of ending pet homelessness and its larger purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS™. That’s why they’ve partnered with Greater Good Charities’ Good Flights to launch “Flying to Forever Homes”, a series of six flights that will save hundreds of pets.
The generosity of PEDIGREE Foundation and Mars Petcare make these flights possible.
Their generous matching gift doubles your impact when you donate today.
Homeless cat populations across the U.S. are surging, and without adopters waiting, they have little chance of making it out of the shelter. By transporting shelter cats from overcrowded shelters in the South to areas in need of adoptable cats, we are helping meet the adoption demand while reducing the population in overburdened shelters and saving lives.
Thank you to iHeartCats.com for generously helping to cover the cost of
these flights, saving the lives of hundreds of cats.
Natural disasters, like hurricanes and floods, are on the rise and can often cause a crisis for animal shelters serving their homeless pets and the needs of their communities. Moving un-owned pets out of these areas assists shelters in providing critical and life-saving care for pets and families in need, pre and post disaster. Good Flights coordinates with shelters in affected areas to make sure they have the space they need in their facilities to respond.