It is not a secret that the Covid-19 pandemic took the world by storm, and countless lives and ways of life were altered. Animals and animal rescue operations were not an exception to the negative effect that the infamous pandemic cast upon so many.  As a result of the east end of Long Island, New York being such a tight-knit community, word of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (ARF) struggling to receive homeless animals became evident to the pilots of the East Hampton Airport.  Local flight instructor/charter pilot Charles Canavan strolled across the street from East Hampton Airport (HTO) to ARF to speak with ARF CEO Scott Howe and board member Jake Kommer about potentially getting involved with animal rescue.  The issue was this:  team members of ARF were not permitted to leave the confines of New York state in excess of 24 hours and then proceed to return without quarantining for two weeks per a new state mandate.  The vast majority of the animal shelters that ARF has partnered with were beyond the maximum capacity of animals, and none of said animal shelters were in the state of New York.  Unfortunately, when shelters are unable to accept additional homeless animals, many animals receive euthanasia.  Realizing his access to numerous aircraft and generous volunteer pilots in the East Hampton community, Canavan proposed the idea of executing a single-day rescue flight to Fostering Foster Animal Rescue in Camden, South Carolina.  Howe and Kommer immediately fell in love with the proposition and plans began to form.

Organizing an animal rescue mission is rarely a simple task, and never a task that can be accomplished by one single person.  Having never organized an animal rescue mission before, Canavan reached out to the East Hampton Aviation Association (EHAA), an alliance of local pilots and aircraft owners for assistance.  The late president of the EHAA, Kent Feurring, promptly responded to Canavan’s query and introduced him to local pilot and aircraft owner Brian La Belle.  La Belle is an aviation addict and shares his impressive experiences and knowledge through his very popular social media handle “ThePilotAdventure.”  Having experience rescuing animals and traveling far distances to do so, La Belle immediately offered himself and his aircraft to partake in the journey to/from South Carolina with Canavan.  Yet another obstacle stood in the way of Canavan and La Belle, however:  hazardous weather.  Weather is not a new phenomenon to pilots, and is never a threat that should be underestimated.  Knowing this, Canavan and La Belle realized that they needed to shield La Belle’s flashy Cirrus SR-22T aircraft overnight from the incoming snow/ice storm in order to leave on time.  Coming to the rescue once again, president Feurring promptly located a heated hanger for the pilots to store the Cirrus in overnight.  The following day the entire trip was executed without a hitch, and fifteen baby dogs not only managed to evade euthanasia, but soared all the way to New York where they were promptly adopted into their forever homes.

Canavan felt tremendous amounts of joy following the conclusion of the trip and wanted to make a regular habit of corralling homeless animals to their forever homes.  Shortly after the journey, Canavan’s flight student, a well-established attorney Robert Rizzo wanted to get involved as well.  Rizzo and his firm established a 501c3 (non-profit organization) for Canavan, and Four-Legged Fliers, inc. was born!  Let the Four-Legged Fliers origin story and continued mission to be a strong example of people coming together for the betterment of both homeless animals, and homes everywhere desperately in need of a new furry family member.  Rescue missions such as our missions would never be possible without teamwork, and especially not without public airports such as the endangered East Hampton Airport.  Being absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of help, support and volunteers towards the organization, Canavan has vowed to help rescue as many homeless animals as possible.

Four-Legged Fliers is now an established non-profit organization of volunteer pilots, volunteer planners, and participating animal rescue foundations.  This organization is constantly receptive of any donations, volunteers and people interested in adopting a homeless animal.  The Four-Legged Fliers family intends to continue growing, continue flying, and continue saving the lives of homeless animals.

Four-Legged Fliers not only rescues and transports them, but we also actively try to find adopters for the homeless animals.

The donations to Four-Legged Fliers directly go toward funding the transports, locating adopters, and providing supplies for the homeless animals.