Puppy Dog Tales - August 2015 - The Shoofly Magazine

Puppy Dog Tales - August 2015

8/1/2015

A Space Age Ark Changes Travel For Animal Companions

This month, Daisy Mae (our columnist and registered seizure-alert dog) gets the scoop on a fantastic new facility in the works for pets and animals traveling internationally.
- by Daisy Mae Delray

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photo courtesy Paradise 4 Paws

If you are traveling this summer and your trip involves overseas flights you may have a stopover in New York at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. You will find places for you to rest and recuperate between flights but your pets may not get the pampering they deserve. Maybe you should wait until next year for that long trip with the pets.

The photo above depicts what could be your dog’s experience once the $48 million, 178,000 square foot facility called the ARK at JFK is completed in 2016. This area for pampered pets will be managed by Paradise 4 Paws.

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Horses will have individual climate-controlled units with bedding and natural light. Horses will no longer have to be driven 80 miles to a quarantine facility. Stalls for up to 70 horses and 180 head of cattle, an aviary and holding pens for goats, pigs and sheep are being built.

This is not a frivolous venture. With more than 70,000 animals flying out of and into the United States, most of them go through JFK Airport. The 20,000 square foot luxury resort run by Paradise 4 Paws will include the pool, massages, grooming - and for the cats, a magnificent jungle gym.

A 24-hour clinic run by Cornell University College and emergency care by LifeCare Veterinary hospital will be on-site.

floor plan copyright: The ARK Development, LLC

ARK Development, LLC is a subsidiary of Racebrook Capital. This is the first project of this type and the world’s only privately owned integrated air freight center, in-transit animal handling modules.

For us traveling animals the key is that this is a USDA approved import quarantine facility with veterinary hospital, diagnostic laboratory and companion animal boarding and grooming spa. This is a model that should transform the experience of air transport for animals worldwide.

I was impressed by the comments by Dr. Aaron S. Perl, Managing Director of The ARK at JFK. “With demand for pets and animals of all kinds transported by air escalating year on year, we recognized the need for a more humane and efficient model for this significant segment of the air travel industry.”

Well dear readers, time to go. Be sure to keep the weather in mind for us animal companions. Never leave us in a car and give us plenty of shade and water. If it is too hot for you, it is too hot for us too.

Keep your tail high and your feet dry,

Love, Daisy Mae