Virginia Beach resident Sali Gear co-owns Island Dog Rescue, a nonprofit that specializes in saving dogs from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she grew up. So after Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean Islands, she was planning to fly about 20 animals back to the mainland every day for a week.
But when Hurricane Maria became a threat to the islands, Gear only had two days to find a way to fly 300 cats and dogs up to get them out of danger. So she chartered a plane and brought them all at once from the islands and donors helped her pay the $112,000 to make it happen. Now these pets will be adopted and have a new life, thanks to her devotion and hard work.
“I did it because it had to be done,” she said before the animals arrived,” Gear explains. “People have moved heaven and earth to make this happen.”