Editor’s note: This article was originally published as a Newsletter for St Nicholas Animal Rescue as a follow-up to a postponed Freedom Flight for dogs and cats in the shelter to travel to new homes in the US.
All views and claims belong solely to the author.
***
A dramatic night, a cruel attempt to stop the mission, and the people who refused to let our animals lose their chance at freedom.
After the postponed flight, we can finally share the full story of the night our animals almost lost their chance, and the people who would not let that happen.
Dear supporters,
First of all, we owe you an apology.
After we had to postpone the Freedom Flight, we did not share much more information. That silence was not because there was nothing to say. It was because, for a while, there was almost too much to say, and because we had reason to be careful.
Now that the plane has finally left Dominica, carrying so many of our dogs and cats toward a new life, we can tell you the whole story of what happened.
And it was more dramatic than anything we had imagined.
A cruel attempt to stop the flight
Three days before the original flight date, June 14th, we received a message from our partner, Wings of Rescue.
Someone had anonymously advised American customs authorities that we were planning to bring sick dogs into the United States.
That was not true.
It was a lie, and what made it so painful was knowing who would pay the price: not us, but the dogs and cats who had already endured neglect, fear, and years behind bars, only to have their chance of a loving home threatened at the last moment.
But once such a claim is made, the protocol is strict. There is no way around it. Instead of random inspections, every single dog would have to be inspected by U.S. authorities.
Fort Lauderdale did not have the facilities to process that number of animals under those conditions. So the only possible solution was to reroute the flight through Miami, where there would be enough personnel and capacity.
That solution came with thousands of dollars in extra costs.
We cannot say strongly enough how grateful we are to Eva and to every donor who made this flight possible in the first place, and to Wings of Rescue, who helped us find a way forward despite every obstacle caused by this act of sabotage. Without you, this flight would not have happened.
Because we now knew that someone was actively trying to interfere with the mission, we made the decision to stay quiet. We did not announce the new flight date publicly.
The plan changed, and so did everything around it
In the late afternoon of June 23rd, the plane landed in Dominica, full of crates that had to be assembled before the animals could fly out the next morning.
Because of the rerouting through Miami, and because every dog would have to be inspected, we could no longer continue with a plane transfer after arrival. Instead, the dogs and cats would have to travel by land to Chicago and New Jersey.
The receiving rescues had to wait in Miami without a precise answer as to when customs would release the animals.
We could only tell them: please be there. We do not know exactly when they will come out.
Then, for a brief moment, it seemed as if everything might finally go according to plan.
The plane had arrived safely with the crates. The pilots were able to rest. Volunteers helped assemble crate after crate. The animals were being prepared. After everything that had already happened, there was a sense that maybe, at last, the hardest part was behind us.
It was not.
Another blow, just hours before departure
Only hours before departure, we received another blow. The broker in the United States, an additional and expensive requirement because of the customs situation, informed us that 15 dogs had been denied at the last minute. The authorities had decided that their documentation was not 100 percent correct.
It was devastating.
Golnaz and her team had worked incredibly hard on the paperwork: the documentation, the vaccine records, the spay and neuter requirements, every detail that was needed. To learn, with the dogs already bathed and in their crates, that some of them could not board was heartbreaking.
But there was nothing we could do in that moment.
The small comfort is that almost all of these dogs are still small enough that we hope to send them to the U.S. later with flight angels.
While the SNAR team and volunteers were assembling crates in Dominica, Amy from Friends of SNAR was still working miracles from afar. After days of calls, tears, persistence, and her extraordinary gift for persuading people not to look away, she had found placements for our animals in the Miami area, Chicago, and New Jersey.
Now, just hours before departure, she had to rearrange the placements once again and inform the shelters that not all of the dogs they had chosen could make it on this flight.
And then, once again, we thought: now we can go.
The darkest moment of the night
That was when the night reached its darkest point.
The company that had offered trucks to transport the dogs and cats to the airport was supposed to arrive at midnight.
They did not come.
Not half an hour later. Not an hour later.
In the middle of the night, Golnaz and the team went to the company to see whether anything could be done. They could see lights on in the office. But nobody opened the door.
Four hours before the plane was supposed to take off, it looked as if everything might be lost.
All the work. All the donations. Eva’s matching donation. The thousands of additional dollars spent to keep the flight alive after the postponement. The faith of the shelters waiting in the United States. The hope of all the animals who had come so close to freedom.
And the thought was unbearable: who would ever donate again for a flight like this if one broken promise could end it all?
Dominica answered in the middle of the night
So we started calling. Frantically. Desperately. It felt as if we were waking up half of Dominica in the middle of the night. And then something happened that we will never forget.
Truck drivers answered. They got out of bed in the middle of the night. They came. They loaded the animals. They drove them to the airport.
And finally, against every obstacle, the plane took off.
The people who refused to let it fail
This is the story of the night the Freedom Flight almost did not happen.
It is also the story of the people who refused to let it fail.
Wings of Rescue. Amy. Golnaz and the team. Eva, who started this Freedom Flight with her amazing community and her matching donation. Every volunteer who assembled crates, bathed animals, prepared documents, loaded dogs and cats, made phone calls, waited in Miami, opened doors, solved problems, and kept going when it seemed impossible.
And you, every person who donated, shared, believed, and stayed with us.
The Freedom Flight has left Dominica.
The animals are on their way to a different life.
In our next newsletter, we will share more about how the dogs and cats arrived at their shelters, and we will also give you the final confirmed numbers.
Please help us continue
This Freedom Flight was only possible because people donated, shared, believed, and helped us keep going when everything nearly fell apart. We want to bring ones, that have been rejected last minute to their forevers homes:
Please donate for Toffee, Latte, Chai, Bella 1-5 and Bella 6 and 7, Espresso, Cacao, Guacha and Guacho as well as Noir. Each Flight Angels cost as 350 USD with all the extra costs, documentation and transport to the shelters. Please don’t let them go back to their cages.
Donate through our website: www.snar-dm.com
For now, we simply want to say: thank you for helping us get them this far.
With deep gratitude,
The SNAR Team
