34 dogs, 21 kittens flown from Del Rio to eastern homes
Del Rio volunteers loaded 34 dogs and 21 kittens onto a Saab 340B, sending them to Portland, Maine, and Maryland after fostering them locally.
Thirty-four dogs and 21 kittens left Del Rio on Friday, lifted onto a Saab 340B at Del Rio International Airport for rescue partners in Portland, Maine, and Maryland. Border Animal Mission volunteers had fostered the animals in their homes before carrying the crates from their personal vehicles to the plane outside Pico Aviation.
In the warm summer twilight, several dozen volunteers lined the crates beside the aircraft and helped Jessica Halprin, BAM’s founder and director, and Nelda Corbell, president of Wings of Rescue, load the animals for the trip east. Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez also was there.
The flight was another result of BAM’s partnership with Wings of Rescue. “Our kennels are empty; please send us some animals,” Halprin said. Before BAM began sending animals by air in November or December 2025, volunteers drove rescued pets to Dallas, where the trips could carry about 30 animals depending on dog size. Halprin said the group has been sending animals about once a month since then.
Wings of Rescue is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that flies at-risk pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster areas to safe havens. The organization averages more than 100 flights each year and has landed in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. It has saved 92,282 pets overall, along with 2,461,695 miles flown, 915,028 pounds of aid delivered and 23,012 pets altered.
BAM says Del Rio faces one of the highest euthanasia rates in Texas, and its transport program has helped more than 250 animals so far, including 204 dogs. BAM says local adoptions alone cannot absorb the number of animals that need help here.
In January, BAM and Helping Paws Across Borders spayed or neutered 439 local pets during a five-day clinic at the Val Verde County Fairgrounds. Another clinic was scheduled for March 27-31 at the Chihuahua Neighborhood Facility, 1401 Las Vacas St. BAM says it fixed more than 1,000 animals in its first year through spay-neuter and trap-neuter-return work.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
