Being a WaPo article, I won't link it as they now ask for your email to read "free" articles. But here's a summary.
Pilot flew animals to safety after hurricanes. Then he adopted one.
‘Not once did I actually think about coming home with an animal,’ said pilot Matthew Prebish about his surprise that he adopted a kitten after the flight.
After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Southwest Airlines partnered with animal rescue groups to emergency airlift about 150 shelter pets. Capt. Matthew Prebish ended up adopting a 3-month-old kitten on board. (Stephen M. Keller/Southwest Airlines)
Southwest Airlines pilot Matthew Prebish volunteered to fly an emergency airlift plane full of 147 animals displaced in Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton to shelters in Milwaukee.
He figured he could help the terrified animals and then head back to his wife and son in Dallas.
“Not once did I actually think about coming home with an animal,” he said. “I was just thinking about making sure we were safe and the animals were comfortable and we were able to operate on schedule.”
When he landed the plane in Milwaukee on Oct. 12, bad weather forced it to stall for about 45 minutes with everyone aboard, giving Prebish time to mingle with some of his passengers. That’s when he met Avery, a tiny three-month-old kitten who was rescued from a shelter in East Tennessee.
He petted her soft fur and was shocked at the thought that popped into his head: Should I bring her home?
Prebish is more of a dog person, he said. But Avery struck him as having an “explorer type personality.” Then she looked into his eyes, and he was sold.
He called his wife to ask if she was okay with adopting a cat, and when she said yes, he flew home to Dallas with Avery — to the delight of their son, Jett, 6.
The two-hour flight was coordinated through a partnership between Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Arlington, Va., a global nonprofit called Greater Good Charities and Southwest Airlines.
The animals on board — 95 cats and 52 dogs — had been in shelters in Tennessee and Florida before the hurricanes hit...
At the rescue campus, all the animals had health checks and received any necessary vaccines ahead of taking off on the flight to Milwaukee.
Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak was on the flight as a reporter and ended up adopting one of the pups on board.
Chica, a terrier mix, was her seatmate and had been found on an abandoned coffee farm during the hurricane.
“I couldn't resist the urge to adopt her,” Dvorak wrote in a column about the flight.
Dvorak's son, Emmett Justice, snuggling with Chica. (Petula Dvorak)
At home, Prebish also has a 2-year-old golden retriever named Wrigley, a 9-year-old Labrador retriever named Tahoe and another cat named Smalls.
Wrigley and Avery bonding. (Matthew Prebish)
“We’re outnumbered now, animals to people,” he said. “She’s been exactly what we expected. It was definitely the right call.”
As my gf would say, "There will be many bis-cu-its in heaven" for these people
Pilot flew animals to safety after hurricanes. Then he adopted one.
‘Not once did I actually think about coming home with an animal,’ said pilot Matthew Prebish about his surprise that he adopted a kitten after the flight.
After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Southwest Airlines partnered with animal rescue groups to emergency airlift about 150 shelter pets. Capt. Matthew Prebish ended up adopting a 3-month-old kitten on board. (Stephen M. Keller/Southwest Airlines)
Southwest Airlines pilot Matthew Prebish volunteered to fly an emergency airlift plane full of 147 animals displaced in Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton to shelters in Milwaukee.
He figured he could help the terrified animals and then head back to his wife and son in Dallas.
“Not once did I actually think about coming home with an animal,” he said. “I was just thinking about making sure we were safe and the animals were comfortable and we were able to operate on schedule.”
When he landed the plane in Milwaukee on Oct. 12, bad weather forced it to stall for about 45 minutes with everyone aboard, giving Prebish time to mingle with some of his passengers. That’s when he met Avery, a tiny three-month-old kitten who was rescued from a shelter in East Tennessee.
He petted her soft fur and was shocked at the thought that popped into his head: Should I bring her home?
Prebish is more of a dog person, he said. But Avery struck him as having an “explorer type personality.” Then she looked into his eyes, and he was sold.
He called his wife to ask if she was okay with adopting a cat, and when she said yes, he flew home to Dallas with Avery — to the delight of their son, Jett, 6.
The two-hour flight was coordinated through a partnership between Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Arlington, Va., a global nonprofit called Greater Good Charities and Southwest Airlines.
The animals on board — 95 cats and 52 dogs — had been in shelters in Tennessee and Florida before the hurricanes hit...
At the rescue campus, all the animals had health checks and received any necessary vaccines ahead of taking off on the flight to Milwaukee.
Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak was on the flight as a reporter and ended up adopting one of the pups on board.
Chica, a terrier mix, was her seatmate and had been found on an abandoned coffee farm during the hurricane.
“I couldn't resist the urge to adopt her,” Dvorak wrote in a column about the flight.
Dvorak's son, Emmett Justice, snuggling with Chica. (Petula Dvorak)
At home, Prebish also has a 2-year-old golden retriever named Wrigley, a 9-year-old Labrador retriever named Tahoe and another cat named Smalls.
Wrigley and Avery bonding. (Matthew Prebish)
“We’re outnumbered now, animals to people,” he said. “She’s been exactly what we expected. It was definitely the right call.”
As my gf would say, "There will be many bis-cu-its in heaven" for these people
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But the change is not always for the worse 
