Rescue Flight Helps 155 Cats from Overcrowded Shelters Get a Second Chance at Finding Homes – PEOPLE

Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor for PEOPLE Digital and PEOPLE magazine. She has been with the PEOPLE brand for more than eight years, working as a writer/producer across PEOPLE's Lifestyle, Features, and Entertainment verticals before taking on her current role. Kelli is also an editor on PEOPLE's Stories to Make You Smile and serves as an editorial lead on PEOPLE's World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest and Pet Product Awards.   Before joining PEOPLE, Kelli helped AOL and Whalerock launch a pet lifestyle site called PawNation. She is a pet parent to a cat named Wallace, and her professional and personal devotion to animals has taken her to three dog weddings … so far.
One hundred and fifty-five cats are ready to start living their nine lives in new homes.
As part of the 2022 Clear the Shelters adoption campaign, which runs from August 1-31, NBCUniversal Local, Greater Good Charities, The Animal Rescue Site, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition partnered together and organized a rescue flight for cats in need.
The chartered flight — which left Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on the morning of August 2 and landed at the New Bedford Regional Airport in Massachusetts later that day — carried 155 rescue cats from overcrowded shelters, where the pets were at risk of being euthanized.
Upon landing in Massachusetts on Tuesday, the felines — who came from Humane Society of Broward County, Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League, Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County, and Humane Society of the Treasure Coast — were greeted by eager representatives from Northeast Animal Shelter, MSPCA-Angell and Monadnock Humane Society.
The East Coast-based shelters that welcomed the cats have the space and resources to care for the felines until they are adopted.
This rescue flight not only saved its feline passengers but other rescue animals in need who are waiting for openings in U.S. shelters.
"Our communities in Southern Florida are often overwhelmed with cats and kittens this time of year. This is huge for our communities to get some highly adoptable animals out, so we can make room for other pets," Mary Steffen, the SVP of operations at Humane Society of Broward County, said in a statement.
Clear the Shelters has a similar rescue flight scheduled for August 30, which is slated to carry around at-risk 50 shelter dogs from New Orleans to New Jersey to help the canines find forever home.
Since 2015, the Clear the Shelters campaign has connected pet parents with furry friends for free or with reduced adoption fees. Clear the Shelter's eight years of effort has helped over 700,000 pets find homes.
To learn more about Clear the Shelters and how to participate, visit cleartheshelters.com.
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