In the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Harvey, PilotsNPaws, a non-profit organization that uses volunteer general aviation pilots and planes to transport rescued animals, has put out a call for larger airplanes to help rescue animals caught in the hurricane and flooding.

“Our small planes just cannot get in and out and fly in this weather,” said Deborah Boies, founder of PilotsNPaws. “We have animals that were already in rescues and shelters waiting for adoptive homes, we have places for them to go, in order to make room for the animals that are displaced from the hurricane who really need to stay in the area to try and connect with their owners.”

While teams are standing by to help the animals, most of the planes used by Pilots N Paws pilots are Cessnas and smaller planes “that just cannot handle” the weather, she noted.

She noted that Pilatus aircraft would be great as they can “hold  more dogs than you can imagine with a few seats removed and, of course, protective plastic placed.”