Seuk’s Army landed at Culpeper Regional Airport in Brandy Station, Va., on Nov. 23, 2025, carrying 117 animals, including 13 dogs, bound for foster homes and rescue groups. This airlift is a response to the overcrowding and high intake rates that animal shelters in the Southern United States often face, driven by factors such as pet overpopulation and economic strain.

The flight doubled as a memorial to member and pilot Seuk Kim, who died in a crash on Nov. 24, 2024, and volunteers gathered to continue the work he helped build. The arrival brought volunteers, pilots, and shelter staff together on the tarmac where leashed dogs waited like a crowd at an airport boarding gate, reflecting a hopeful shift in outcomes for animals facing euthanasia.

Volunteers and pilots moved pet crates and carried animals to waiting vehicles and foster coordinators, reminding everyone of the critical need for foster homes. In fact, recent data shows that in the first half of 2025, 69% of shelter animal outcomes were adoptions, underscoring the importance of these rescue flights.

Pet crates, including one that survived the fatal crash in November 2024, were stacked beside a plane as people organized transports to foster and rescue groups. Sydney Galley, co-founder and CEO of Seuk’s Army, said, “Everybody really feels it. He would be so excited to see us with so many dogs.” Her remark came as coordinators sorted health paperwork and volunteers prepared animals for the next leg of their journeys, amidst the ongoing challenge many face due to housing insecurity post-pandemic.

The operation involved 16 people working together on the ground and in the air, including co-founder and pilot Jerry Stephens and Pilots to the Rescue founder Michael Schneider, who collaborated on flights. The group worked with the Heard County Animal Control Center and other partners to move animals from overwhelmed Southern shelters to places where they could be fostered or adopted. Many individuals can also contribute to these efforts by volunteering at local shelters, walking dogs, or helping with adoptions and events.

Among the animals on the tarmac were named rescues whose stories underscored the need for transports. Jenny, a skinny, shy pit bull mix who was facing euthanasia, and one of Jenny’s puppies were among those carried onto vans. Volunteers also handled Daisy, a 96-pound bloodhound whose owner had died, Copper, a surrendered hound, and Middie, an abandoned pregnant dog from Georgia.

Coordinator Karissa Gregory spoke to the strain volunteers sometimes feel: “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” Her words were followed by steady work unloading crates and checking animals into the care of foster groups and small rescues, highlighting the emotional and logistical challenges that rescuers face daily.

Pilots who flew the mission included Kley Parkhurst, who said, “I just want to keep the legacy that we started together going.” Co-pilot Michael Nuzback and pilots Stephen Nur and Jerry Stephens helped operate the flights alongside volunteer ground teams such as Danielle Barth and airport staff including Tanya Woodward.

Heard County Animal Control Center director Kyli Putzek noted the role flights play for some shelters: “it wouldn’t be the same story without the rescue flights.” That sentiment framed the logistics-driven afternoon as animal control staff handed paperwork and carriers to waiting volunteers, a task crucial in resolving the high intake rates that plague many shelters.

The airlift echoed coverage of the event elsewhere; additional reporting on the anniversary flight is available in a news summary of the operation. For background on pressures that drive such transports, wider shelter challenges have been examined by animal welfare researchers in recent years.

Volunteers said most of the animals were headed straight to foster homes. “They’re all headed to people’s homes. A warm house,” volunteer Danielle Barth said as volunteers loaded the last crates into vans and SUVs for drives to local rescues and foster families.

The gathering at the airport mixed practical rescue work with remembrance. Organizers and volunteers marked the one-year anniversary of Kim’s death by continuing flights that move animals from places with high intake to areas with more foster capacity. Those efforts involved Seuk’s Army, Pilots to the Rescue, the Heard County Animal Control Center, and other local rescues working in concert to place animals in homes.

Officials and volunteers said the mission would continue to schedule flights and coordinate with partner shelters and fosters to place animals removed from high-intake facilities, reinforcing the vital role of community in animal rescue initiatives.

Source

Original reporting: view the original article.