Hawaii + Rescue Dogs + Charity = Perfection

When I’ve talked about traveling, I’ve had so many readers rave about Hawaii. If you too are a Hawaii lover, or if you’re looking for an amazing vacation destination with a side of charity,you can actually help save a rescue dog’s life by flying them back with you when you return to the states! These programs are awesome!

The Kauai Humane Society and the Maui Humane Society have programs in place that fly dogs from their crowded on-island shelters to mainland shelters that can facilitate prompt adoption.  In Kauai there’s the Shelter Pet Transfer Program, and in Maui it’s the Wings of Aloha Transfer Program.

All you have to do is let the dogs fly with you to a mainland airport for pick up from a local shelter. They’ll be crated and in the animal hold of the aircraft. Many shelters on the west coast participate in this program and are willingly accepting the dogs. If you’re flying out of Maui’s Kahului Airport or Kauai’s Lihue Airport, there are any number of transfer partners on the mainland. Maui works with seven shelters in the Portland area and one in the Seattle area. Kauai works with the Oregon Humane Society, Seattle Humane Society, East Bay SPCA, San Diego Humane Society, and the Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas.

Here’s how this awesome program works:

1. Contact the transfer program of the Humane Society on the island that you will be flying out of. You will need to give them your travel dates, contact information, and travel confirmation. You must be flying nonstop from the island to your destination city on Alaska Airlines. For Kauai’s Shelter Pet Transfer Program start here. For Maui’s Wings of Aloha Transfer Program start here.
2. Maui Humane or Kauai Humane will handle all the arrangements with the mainland shelters and with Alaska Airlines. Additionally, any cost of transferring the dog or dogs (up to five dogs can be shipped with one passenger) is handled entirely by the shelter. All you have to do is enjoy your time in Hawaii!
3. On the day you depart Maui or Kauai, a representative from the shelter will meet you at the Alaska Airlines ticket counter approximately two hours before your flight. You sign some paperwork confirming that the dogs are flying with you, you wish your canine traveling buddies a good flight, and off they go. Before flying out of Maui or Kauai, you’ll be given the number for the shelter contact at your arriving city.
4. Upon arrival at your destination, you call the contact from the receiving shelter. They will meet you at baggage claim, where they will pick up the dogs and whisk them off to a new life.

Simple as that and you’ve just helped save a life. Now please tell me one of my lovely readers is headed to Hawaii soon so we can see this program in action?!

~Mavis