Kelowna woman seeks 'flight angel' to bring rescue pup home

Kelowna resident Leesa Resch has always wanted a dachshund and recently found her perfect weiner dog, named Dashi. The only issue – it's in Cancun.

With it being the holidays and people travelling to Mexico, Resch is hoping to find a flight angel to help escort the little critter home. 

There is no cost to the traveller, and the Renacer Contigo Cancun shelter will meet the volunteers at the airport. 

“Evelyn will take the dog right to the airport, meet the person at the airport wherever the flight is, check (Dashi) in, do all the paperwork.... They may need to just sign a paper,” says Resch. 

Once he gets to Kelowna or to Vancouver, Resch will sign the dog out, she adds.

WestJet has a flight embargo for pets between Dec. 15 and Jan. 6, meaning no dogs are allowed on planes due to the high demand, but other airlines such as Air Canada, Interjet and AirTransat are still taking dogs.

Resch jokes about having to convince her partner to adopt their first dog, but once he saw a picture of Dashi he said, “let's do it, he’s beautiful and I want him too.”

Resch lived in Mexico for four years and knows the treatment of dogs on the streets isn't good, so she wanted to help out. 

She says Dashi was living on the streets in one of the poorest parts of Cancun and had ringworms and mange. The adoption agency fixed him up, vaccinated and neutered him.

“It’s really hard to find a dachshund for adoption because typically people hold onto them, so I just kind of accidentally was clicking on Facebook and clicked onto this link and saw him and thought – that is my dog,” says Resch. 

The shelter has Dashi on hold for Resch with no time limit on picking him up, but the couple hopes to have him home for the holidays. 

If you’re travelling to Cancun and want to help, you can call Resch at 250-859-8143.