I like to be in America!

This week a small plane carrying 40 stray dogs, rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico, landed in White Plains, NY, where they were met by their adoptive families. Nothing unusual about that. Last month 120 strays – or satos – were delivered from the island to Westchester County Airport.

These missions of mercy are organized by the Sato Project, which in the past ten years has rescued more than 6000 unhoused dogs from Puerto Rico. The organization reckons there are a half a million abused and abandoned dogs roaming the PR streets. Sato finds and secures the strays, administers veterinary needs as necessary – including spaying and neutering – then places them in loving households, usually on the US mainland.

The Sato Project began rescuing dogs a decade ago at a place called “Dead Dog Beach” in Yabucoa, an infamous dumping ground for abandoned pups. The group went to work, which included community outreach work, and today the beach is entirely cleared of dogs, aside from the occasional strays that the Project feed and monitor daily.

After a dog is treated and has a final checkup by a vet, it receives health and travel certificates and is cleared for takeoff. The Sato Project partners with Wings of Rescue – wingsofrescue.org – another dog-rescue nonprofit launched in 2012. Since then, Wings has flown over 60,000 pets from disaster areas and other places in need.

Of this week’s rescue operation, the Sato Project wrote, “All of the dogs onboard were rescued from streets, beaches, or overcrowded municipal shelters. Five of these passengers were also flying as part of our ‘No Dog Left Behind’ program, our initiative started after Hurricane Maria to reunite dogs with their families who have moved to the mainland US.”

Visit the Sato Project (and donate) at thesatoproject.org, where you can adopt a sato. Watch a rescue of 280 dogs at youtube.com/watch?v=ETmaTYgPC1k.

Photo credit: The Sato Project