staff Sonoma Index-Tribune
Sonoma nonprofit flies shelter dogs from LA to Bay Area
January 20, 2025
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  • Sonoma based nonprofit Flying Tails Animal Rescue held their biggest animal rescue to date with five planes from the Bay Area traveling to Los Angeles on Jan. 17 to deliver as many as 20 dogs to local shelters, including Pets Lifeline in Sonoma and North Bay Animal Services in Petaluma.

    The Los Angeles wildfires have inundated Southern California animal shelters with lost and evacuated animals, so the relocation effort’s goal is to move dogs already at those shelters to the Bay Area to make room at Los Angeles shelters for animals impacted by the fires.

    Former KRON4 news anchor and pilot Ken Wayne, the CEO of Flying Tails, coordinated the rescue mission with the pilots. Wayne’s plane departed from Petaluma Municipal Airport in the morning on Jan. 17, while the others took off from Buchanon Field in Concord and three others from the airport in Hayward to all met at the Van Nuys Airport for the pickup. The pilots all headed back to the Bay Area that night, with Wayne landing back at the Petaluma Municipal Aiport.