The quest to find "fur-ever" homes for nearly 150 local pets took to the skies Friday.
The Humane Society of North Texas says DFW animal shelters are becoming extremely overcrowded, putting the lives of many cats and dogs at risk.
It's why they loaded the animals onto a plane in the wee hours of the morning bound for Washington state, where multiple rescues and shelters were eagerly waiting to take them in.
"We struggle with pet overpopulation here -- and in the Northern states, they don't," said Cassie Lackey, Community Relations Manager for the Humane Society of North Texas. "So we are relocating over 135 animals for that purpose. We're gonna get these pets homes."
HSNT partnered with an organization called Wings of Rescue, which relocates animals all over the country. The group has a policy that no pets on board their flights can be euthanized once they're relocated -- and all of them must go to no-kill shelters.
"When the door shuts, you just get this sense of fulfillment and satisfaction," said Ric Browde, President of Wings of Rescue. "And then you start having this sense of dread for the ones you left behind and weren't able to take."
HSNT says this is easily its largest effort like this to date.
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NBC 5 and Telemundo 39 are also doing their part to help with the shelter overcrowding problem. Our Clear the Shelters Day returns Saturday, August 18. Shelters across North Texas will be waiving most of their adoption fees that day.
Since 2015, more than 150,000 animals have been adopted nationwide during Clear the Shelters Day events.
