For greater than 30 years, Ken Wayne was a well-recognized face in Bay Area television news. The longtime news anchor, who retired this spring, is not any longer on the air, but he plans to spend much of his free time within the air, rescuing abused and abandoned animals, one small planeload at a time.
Wayne, 63, founded Flying Tails six years ago and has flown across the state to rescue dozens of dogs, bear cubs, raccoons and even a bald eagle. The animals he transports are either injured, abandoned or in a kill shelter when rescue groups contact Wayne to ask if he can fly them to their eternally homes or rescue ranches.
“We take in dogs from all over the state of California and it's much easier for the dogs to be able to fly here rather than having to drive,” said Alice Mayn, founder and CEO of Lily's Legacy Senior Dog Sanctuary in Sonoma County. “To have a pilot donate his time and his plane to transport a creature in need is just extraordinary. What a gift he is to dogs and people alike.”
Wayne, a Navy veteran who earned his pilot's license 25 years ago, said animals and flying are two of his favorite things, so combining those passions was a natural fit. And the animals seem to reply well within the air.
“There's something about the calming effect of flying,” says Wayne, a Marin County native. “Even a distressed animal that's been through God knows what will inevitably calm down and even fall asleep. Maybe it's the gentle hum of the engine or the vibrations of the plane, but it's soothing. … And when I'm in the air, floating in an almost zen-like state, knowing the animal will soon be better, it's a tremendous satisfaction.”
Wayne, who lives in Petaluma, recently founded Flying Tails as a nonprofit organization that enables him to move more animals longer distances in his Cessna 182 Skylane, because of funding from donors.
On a transparent, warm day last week, Wayne and co-pilot Lou Rivas flew from Livermore Airport to Santa Monica Airport to select up an injured Chihuahua that had been rescued in Harbin, China, by the American-led organization Slaughterhouse Survivors.
Cupcake, a dog, had each of her hind legs chopped off by a person who was indignant with the dog's owner, said Odessa Gunn, founding father of Little Trooper Ranch in Sonoma County, which rescued the dog. Cupcake and King George, a mixed breed also rescued from China, spent 15 days in quarantine in Los Angeles before Wayne picked them up and brought them north.
“He's really wonderful because it's really hard to get flights for these animals and often there are no other options. He really saves lives,” Gunn said of Wayne.
Also on board the flight was Gemma, a Golden Retriever-Labrador mix who was rescued from a kill shelter by a Southern California rescue group.
“They said she was aggressive and dangerous, but she is the most loving dog ever,” said Brett Herman, an animal rescue volunteer who brought Gemma to Wayne at Santa Monica Airport.
The four-seater plane was cramped with 4 adults, two puppies in cages, and 65-pound Gemma wandering across the cabin demanding ear scratches. After wiggling around, she calmed down, curled up on the ground, and took a peaceful two-hour nap on the way in which back to the Bay Area.
Gemma is now at Lily's Legacy awaiting adoption.
Wayne hasn't just rescued dogs through the years. When the mother of two bear cubs was hit by a automotive in Mariposa County within the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the cubs were taken to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care but were too young to survive on their very own. So Wayne and his wife Carol removed the back seats of the plane, put the steel crate inside and flew away.
“I was pressed against the dashboard of the plane, but we made it,” Wayne said.
The couple flew the cubs to the Ramona Wildlife Center in San Diego County, where they spent a warm winter before being released back into the wild once they were sufficiently old to fend for themselves, Wayne said.
And when a bald eagle was injured fighting with an osprey over fish in northern Plumas County, Wayne was called to release the eventually recovered bird back into the wild.
“It took a second as the bird tried to figure out what was going on, but then it just flew away,” Wayne said. “It was a great sight and well worth the effort.”
Wayne doesn't have a set rescue schedule, but he normally flies a number of times a month. When he's not flying rescue animals, he's working on his industrial pilot's license and volunteering with Rotary. He also uses his broadcasting skills to film and write stories for the Flying Tails website and YouTube.
“When I go to bed at night, I sleep better after a rescue flight,” he said. “I didn't change the world, but I made it a little bit better for an innocent little animal that somehow got into a bad situation. In the grand scheme of things, it's not much. But it's important for this little creature that just needed a chance. Selfishly, it makes me feel better.”
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