QLD Floods- Dog Rescue

Devastation and heartache.  – Two things that come to mind when thinking about the floods that engulfed a vast majority of Queensland this month. Many people lost everything, houses, loved ones and even pets.

In Central Queensland lies a town called Rolleston, In between Emerald and Roma. This town was devastated by floods, one property owned by local resident Max Mayne was completely washed out by water. He lost millions of dollars in crops and machinery and not to mention years of hard work.  The place is still underwater.

As many of you would understand, when a natural disaster like this occurs many resources become unavailable . Aviation fuel is one of those things; this was not given to civilans and was a very precious resource as many people require the assistance of helicopters to escape the floods.

A popular family in the area recently experienced a heartbreaking accident that took the life of their beloved family member. Then the floods hit. Luckily they all managed to evacuate the property before it was too late but sadly had to leave the family dogs behind.

All the roads out to the property were completely underwater or washed away and they only way out there was by helicopter. This is where the kind hearted Max Mayne comes in; along with the help of others he offered his services and helicopter to rescue these dogs.

They flew out to the property, fed the dogs, then put them in the sides of the helicopter. The pictures below show the process they went through to ensure the animals safety. 

Amongst the devastation there is always people who will put others first, even when you’ve lost so much to continue to help others, save lives and help deliver necessary supplies to those who need them the most shows the true meaning of an Australian hero.

** A special thank you to Louise Salmon who provided us with the background and photos to this story.

The Jetpets domestic travel process

The Jetpets travel process

Taking the initial step of deciding to fly your pet can be very daunting but at Jetpets your pet is our biggest priority. We take the step by step journey that your pet would go through if they fly with us.

We are following the journey of one very adorable Bichon Frise, Charlie, who has a sad story. Charlie’s owner was an older gentleman who for the last couple of months had been in and out of hospital. The lovely people at Bayside Pet Resort had been taking care of him. Unfortunately Charlie’s owner passed away. Luckily, Charlie has been relocated to a family member in Sydney.

The first step in travelling with Jetpets is to give us a call. Our caring consultations will be more than happy to answer any questions you have and book your pet in to travel. If you are having your pet picked up from your house one of our coordinators will organise the time, driver and crate to collect the pet.

I was fortunate enough to go out with one of our Melbourne drivers, Dave. After an early morning start we got on the road and headed out to the other side of Melbourne where Charlie was located. We did a couple of pick ups along the way.

We reached the small suburb of Bangholme where the Bayside Pet Resort is located. A very excited Charlie bounded out on his lead; this white bundle of joy was so excited. 

 Firstly Dave lines the crates with newspaper, fills up a small water bowl, then the pets and owners say goodbye, have a cuddle and then they are loaded into the crate.

Once Charlie was secured in his crate, Dave loaded him into the Jetpets van, Charlie had a little bit of a cry but once we started driving he relaxed and was settled in his crate.

Depending on where your pet is going and what time some pets come to our transit lounge to wait for the flight in comfort. All the dogs are taken out of their crates and one of the drivers will take them for a walk and then back to the transit lounge to wait for their flight.

Charlie’s flight wasn’t too far away so Dave and I drove Charlie straight to the Toll Freight building, which is the freight company that is associated with Virgin Blue. When we arrived at the freight terminal Dave gets Charlie out of his crate and takes him for a walk and makes sure he has a little drink, toilet break and to stretch his legs.

 After Charlie has been walked he is loaded back into his crate, weighed and passed over to the lovely staff at Virgin Blue.

 Once all the pets have arrived for the flight, they are all put onto the barrows and are taken out to the tarmac. From there they are loaded onto the plane just like the luggage (only handled with a lot more care!) They go up a conveyor belt and into the freight holding area underneath the plane. The pet section is pressurised so they experience the flight just like humans. 

This is the Virgin Blue plane Charlie flew on.

Once the flight is over, the same process at the freight terminal is repeated- The pets are put onto the conveyor belt and then onto a barrow and taken into the freight terminal. At this point pets can be collected from here, otherwise a Jetpets driver will be waiting to collect them and they can either go to one of our depots (Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane) or we will deliver them straight to your door!

Charlie was being delivered straight to his new home where his new life begins! 

This is Charlie once he arrived in Sydney  

 A special thank you to Dave our driver for allowing me to write this blog as well as our Melbourne and Sydney coordinators Mick and Jeremy for organising and taking pictures!

Kitui the Zebra!

Kitui was welcomed into the world by Werribee Open Range Zoo staff on Australia Day 2008. She lived at the Werribee Open Range Zoo for 2 years before she began her journey with Jetpets to the Orana Wildlife Park, Christchurch NZ.

A Plains Zebra has broad strips especially towards its rump. Their colouring can range from black to dark brown. Their stripes are like fingerprints, no one Zebra is the same. Plains Zebras are very social animals. They generally form family groups which consist of one Male and numerous mares and foals.

Kitui was getting prepared to begin her journey; When Victoria was struck with flash flooding and Christchurch was hit with an earth quake causing the move to be delayed.

On the 11^th of October 2010, Kitui finally began her journey from the Werribee Zoo to her new home. Firstly she was trucked up to Sydney. Then at Sydney’s international terminal were she was flown to Orana Wildlife Park, Christchurch NZ. She was relocated to help the breeding program amongst Zebras

Kitui was transported in a custom built crate.  Jetpet’s Geoff was there to make sure she was safe and got on the plane without any hassle

The Orana Wildlife Park, Is set on 80 Hectares and houses lots of different animals from all over the world. Kitui has settled into her new surrounds and hopefully will be able to successfully contribute to the Zoo’s breeding program.

For more information on Kitui and all the other Zebra’s and wildlife please visit

http://www.zoo.org.au/WerribeeOpenRangeZoo

http://www.oranawildlifepark.co.nz

Pet of the Week- Ruby

They say time heals all wounds, after losing a family pet sometimes the hardest thing is finding the right time to move on and get another animal. This was the case in my family, After many years of having my ice creams stolen, countless attempts to make my dog come for walks and a move interstate, Our beloved family dog passed away. Lochie was a red heeler; she was extremely loyal and followed my mum everywhere she went. After a couple of years  my mum found an ad in the paper for blue heeler pups, Finally she felt it was right time to get another dog. So mum and I went out to this little country town in Northern Victoria to have a look at these puppies. When we pulled up there was a small stampede of puppies coming at us, all spotty, with blue and black colouring. We managed to pick one out of the bunch. She cried the whole way home. After many discussions on what to call her we settled with Ruby.

Just as every owner thinks, she was the cutest puppy! Bounding around the house with lots of energy and getting into everything she could manage. As Ruby has gotten older it’s very clear that she is not a full blue heeler, we think perhaps she is cross kelpie with her pointed nose.

Ruby is obsessed by anything that bounces. She will lay in wait for someone to kick, throw or even just tap her ball so she can chase after it and she never ever gets bored of it. She also enjoys going swimming, after accidently running down the hill to fast one day and ploughing straight into the dam she has found a love for swimming. Whether it is summer, spring, autumn or winter she will go into the water.

Ruby also enjoys having dog play dates; she has a countless amount of four legged friends that enjoy coming over for a play. Her best friend also has her back; He is a large domestic cat, who has a love/hate relationship with her. Sometimes he enjoys having a smooch with her but like many cats once he has had enough the game will be over. He also doesn’t take to well to Ruby’s friends and has been known to once or twice have beaten up a couple of dogs.

If Ruby was another animal she would probably be a cat, her love of cat food and having a cuddle on the couch makes her seem at times like an oversized cat.

Ruby’s favourite food is ice cream. She will fight the cat for the last part of anyone’s ice cream. She also enjoys eating anything that the cat shows interest in!

Ruby is a loving, happy dog. She has endless amounts of energy. At the ripe age of 3 years old she loves to run around, swim and go for rides in the car. Even if she isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, we all love her and wouldn’t change her for the world!

A little bit of help goes a long way

Jetpets is proud to help out charities that give everything they can to help out those less fortunate than us; this may come in the form of fur, feathers or fins. The lovely team at PetRescue is one of those charities that we love to assist. PetRescue is a non for profit charity that helps find new homes for lost and abandoned pets.

PetRescue was founded in 2003 by three animal loving friends, Shel, Vicki and JB. They help home more than 25,000 pets every year thanks to the listings that they provide on their website. They have to date relocated a phenomenal 73,264 pets across Australia.

They do an amazing job every single day; the team has expanded to 2 offices in Melbourne and one in Perth. With the founding three team members still doing the fantastic job they started.

Jetpets along with the help of our lovely friends at Virgin Blue help PetRescue move pets across Australia, One of our domestic consultants Chris, who deals with most of the PetRescue bookings says “The favourite part of my job is helping Pet Rescue out.  To help these pets that are in need is fantastic, and the people at Pet Rescue are always patient and helpful with any request!”

These three dogs were re-homed by PetRescue along with the help of Jetpets and now live wonderful, love-filled lives.

ROBBIE JUNIOR

Robbie Junior is a 12 month old blue cattle boy who secured

a donated flight in May this year. Robbie Jnr is a

rescue originally from Canberra pound and has been

adopted by a lovely new family, who had another rescue dog

for Robbie Jnr to befriend. They are now best friends and go

on daily walks together for an hour and play ball in a large

park opposite their house, where they also socialise with

other dogs. Robbie Jnr’s life couldn’t be much better!

ABBY

After already being rehomed 3 times, little Abby was

finally relocated to her new, and permanent home in

Adelaide in June of this year. As you can see from

her gorgeous jacket, Abby is now being taken care of

like the little queen she is! She loves cuddles with

her new parents - especially when they have movie

night and she snuggles on the couch with them.

 

HOLLY

Holly is a blue cattle dog (right) with a bit of a rough past.

Scared and uncertain, rather than openly friendly, Holly

would not normally have been a rehoming candidate, but 4

weeks after completing a rehabilitation program in the ACT,

Holly was friendly with dogs, cats, birds, loved people and

had learned to be polite with young children. Clearly ready

for a new start, Holly now resides on acreage in the Adelaide

Hills with the lovely couple and their 2 existing cattle dogs.

Here you can see the whole family enjoying Christmas

together!

Jetpets will continue to be a great supporter of PetRescue and will endeavour to help give these animals a second chance in life. For more information on adoption, volunteering and donation please visit the PetRescue webpage www.petrescue.com.au

** We would like to thank Stef from PetRescue who provided the dog profiles.