Cambridge ‘flight angel’ brings furry friend home to family
Posted Jan 12, 2024 06:05:22 AM.
Last Updated May 28, 2024 01:26:26 PM.
A local woman recently transported a dog back from Mexico all the way home to Canada, making her an official “flight angel.”
The Cambridge resident had never even thought about doing it before, until she saw a posting on social media. The posting asked for people planning to travel to volunteer as flight angels, so dogs in other countries could make their way to a forever home faster.
She spoke on The Mike Farwell Show on Thursday about the experience. Ferrarese said they were accustomed to travelling and initially volunteered to help a dog have a better life while on their trip home from Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.
“This is a real second chance for a lot of dogs, so it felt great to be able to participate in that,” she said.
The woman and her husband had no idea what they were signing up for to become flight angels for dogs, but she said she will look for opportunities in the future whenever they make travel plans.
“It was actually no different, in terms of what we did for travel, we were met at the airport by a representative from the rescue, they had the dog, they had all the paperwork, they actually went with us to the front desk to check in, make sure the dog was checked in,” she said.
“We had to go through customs with the dog to show the paperwork that we had been provided by the rescue. So, I think overall the process took an extra 30 minutes when we arrived at Pearson and had to go through customs with the dog.”
The logistics on where and when the dog was traveling were made online, the rescue group and the person from Canada planning on adopting the dog.
The Cambridge resident brought Zoey, a medium-sized dog home to Canada where the adopter was waiting eagerly for her new family member.
“When we received her out of luggage, she was happy, she was taking pets through the cage, it didn’t seem to be a big stressor for her,” she said.
“Zoey, who we brought home, is going to experience a really, lovely, beautiful life.”
Zoey is now officially adopted. She lives in Ottawa with her new family on a large piece of property where she can run and play freely.
