Petmate Partners With Pilots N Paws For 'Big Flyway' Rescue Airlift

With just days or hours to live, more than 300 dogs languishing in South Carolina kill shelters will be rescued and airlifted during Pilots N Paws' "Big Flyway" on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Greenville Downtown Airport in Greenville, South Carolina. Petmate will help ensure all transported pets are safe and comfortable on their life-saving trip by providing travel carriers, harnesses, collars and leads.

Multiple rescue organizations, along with Pilots N Paws supporter actress Pam Grier (a Golden Globe nominee for her title role in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown") and Prince Lorenzo Borghese, founder of Animal Aid USA, are taking part in one of the year's largest single-day air and land animal rescues in the Southeast. Starting at 7 a.m., the dogs will be loaded carefully aboard planes, and more than 70 volunteer pilots will fly them to rescue organizations in New Jersey, Virginia and Florida, with the ultimate goal of finding each dog a forever home.

Pilots N Paws is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to saving the lives of pets by removing them from kill shelters and transporting them to rescue groups. Petmate, a leading maker of innovative pet products, has supported Pilots N Paws for the past five years by donating more than $125,000 in pet travel gear to facilitate the safe transport of pets to rescue organizations across the country for adoption.

"The work done by Pilots N Paws and its hundreds of volunteers has saved countless lives and brought joy to those who have welcomed these dogs into their homes," said Petmate CEO Alice Tillett. "We are incredibly proud to be a part of this wonderful mission that brings people and pets together."

The dogs will stay in their Petmate travel crates during their extensive journeys that span from Greenville to airports in six destination cities. On arrival, more volunteers will pick them up and drive them to no-kill shelters where they will be available for adoption. Some pets already have homes waiting for them.

"We could not do this important work on behalf of our four-legged friends without the support of our many volunteers and partners like Petmate, Subaru, Animal Aid USA and Pam Grier, who generously lends her celebrity to help shine a light on our mission," said Pilots N Paws Founder and President Debi Boies. "The safe transport of the dogs is at the heart of what we do, and the carriers, crates and leads provided by Petmate help ensure they arrive safely, comfortably and ready to find their new families."

About Petmate
Founded in 1963, Petmate is the nation's leading maker of innovative products pet families prefer for home, travel and play.Arlington, Texas-based Petmate is the trusted authority in innovative, functional, high-quality pet products including bedding, kennels, dog houses, feeding and watering products, litter maintenance products, toys, collars, leads and travel solutions, available at pet supply retailers nationwide. Petmate also makes pet family favorite brands Chuckit!, Wetnoz, Aspen Pet, JW and more. For more information, visit www.petmate.com.