One of the stories in “One Thousand and One Nights” tells the tale of a magic flying carpet that is used as a form of fantasy transportation that can instantaneously carry its user to distant destinations.
The dogs and cats rescued by Dr. Rick Campana and pharmacist TW Taylor may feel the same way as the passengers on the legendary flying carpet. That’s because they are being flown by Campana and Taylor on a private plane to an adoptive family.
Campana, after taking care of patients for 40 years at his First Med Clinic on Second Street in Williamsburg, hung up his shingle and retired.
A dog lover all his life, Campana started a non-profit corporation called Senior Dog Sanctuary of Virginia. He funded it with $65,000 of his own money, with the intention of building a dog sanctuary in Charles City County. However, a friend of his warned him that for a “senior dog,” as he now was, it may be too large of a bite. He was advised to use the money more effectively to save dogs.
“So, I decided to fund through my own nonprofit sorties for rescuing dogs in kill shelters and fly them to sanctuaries or families ready to adopt the dogs,” Campana said in an interview with the Gazette. “My friend, TW Taylor, a former member of the U.S. Air Force, now the owner of the Williamsburg Drug Co., and I fly those dogs through another non-profit called Pilots N Paws, which is a network of private pilots.”
To date, the two Williamsburg aviators have flown 14 missions and saved a number of shelter dogs and cats.
“Our goal is to save as many dogs and cats as possible,” Campana said. “Texas, California and North Carolina have the highest kill rates in the U.S. On average, 67,000 dogs and 860,000 cats are euthanized in the United States each year. North Carolina, our primary target state, is euthanizing 60,000 dogs and 18,000 cats annually.”
Campana noted that each sortie to save dogs and cats costs about $2,500. They use Taylor’s Cessna 310 airplane.
“TW and I are the flight crew,” Campana said. “He is the captain, and I am the first officer. Our passengers — the dogs and cats — are wonderful. They often fall asleep due to the vibration of the plane. On occasion we have had a dog or two that wanted to get in the cockpit and fly the plane.”
According to Campana, nothing makes him happier than saving the shelter dogs and cats. He is in the process of developing a web site to show how the rescue mission operates, and how people can make donations to keep the flights going.
Rescue shelters are always at capacity and there are many more animals being abandoned each day than homes to welcome them. Once a pet is left at a shelter, it has about 72 hours being adopted before it is destroyed. Each day in the U,S., around 4,100 dogs and cats are euthanized at shelters.
Clearly, there is an urgent need to support no-kill shelters and rescue missions that will give at least some dogs and cats a second chance.
Frank Shatz is a Williamsburg resident. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” the compilation of his selected columns. The book is available at the Bruton Parish Shop and Amazon.com.
