Michael Schneider founded Pilots to the Rescue to fly at-risk shelter animals to locations with better adoption odds, addressing nearly one million annual euthanasias. The nonprofit partners with shelters and organizations like the Bissell Pet Foundation, matching rescue requests with volunteer pilots. By 2025, Schneider plans to expand into a nationwide fleet of aircraft and ground vehicles.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pets are put to death at animal shelters. The nonprofit Pilots to the Rescue transports at-risk pets around the country to give them a better chance at finding their forever homes with loving families. We're happy to have the founder of this organization, Michael Schneider, here with, with us to share more about what they're doing. Michael, thank you so much for being here. What inspired you to start Pilots to the Rescue?
Thank you for having me on the show, Sasha. Um, what inspired me to start Pilots to the Rescue was combine my love of aviation and rescuing animals. I grew up with rescue animals. Uh, that's something that we did as a family. We went to our local shelter, we picked out a little puppy or kitten or a senior dog. And then the aviation part came from skydiving. That was my first introduction into these small general aviation planes. So, I was looking for a way to give back with this amazing thing that I worked so hard to achieve. And because I always had an affinity towards animals, it just seemed natural progression to transport them to escape euthanasia.
Wonderful. And how do you find shelters that need help transporting pets?
There are no shortage of shelters and rescue animals that need to be saved. That's the sobering statistic that you mentioned earlier, nearly a million animal— animals being euthanized each year. We have a lot of shelters that want to send animals, not enough to receive them. We have working relationships with shelters for nearly a decade, and then we also work with larger organizations like the Humane World or Bissell Pet Foundation. But we entertain new relationships all the time. They email us, they call us, and we introduce them to some of our partners. So they have partners that are really far away, and that's where the aviation comes in.
I'm sure you have many, but are there any specific animal stories that have touched you recently?
The animal stories that touch me personally are the animals that are abused or neglected. We just recently transported a dog that was a tripod that got hit by a car, and the amazing thing about these animals is they really, they don't even, they wake up every day and they act as if they're not even missing a leg. So we can, humans can learn a thing or two about these furry friends.
Absolutely. Now, 2025 is a big year. You're celebrating 10 years. What plans do you have for the next decade?
Boy, did that decade go fast for us. Uh, the, the plan for the next decade is to create a fleet of aircraft and ground transport vehicles. We do do quite a bit of ground transport across the country so that we can provide a reliable network of transport for all these amazing organizations that are saving these animals every day. The transport part is particularly difficult for these organizations, and that's something that we excel at. So I hope to have a fleet of aircraft all across the country.
Oh, well, we wish you the best of luck. And just really quick, how can people get involved with Pilots to the Rescue?
They can go to our website. They can reach out to us on the phone. All that information is on our website. And they can also go to a local shelter and adopt, don't shop.
Wonderful. Michael Schneider, thank you so much.
Thank you.
