Puppy Air Lift on Air Force One

Kudos to President Bush and his staff.


Biloxi Puppy Lift Via Air Force One

A clandestine smuggling operation is helping turn a tragic legacy of a natural disaster into a heartwarming Walt Disney tear-jerker. The stars of this thriller: puppies of abandoned dogs. The villain: Hurricane Katrina. The saviors: the president, his staff, and his jet.

On April 27, before President Bush toured the Hands On Network crisis volunteer center in Biloxi, Miss., the White House advance team E-mailed home that the prez would see a kennel with 17 abandoned puppies collected by the Humane Society and Triple R Pets. Staffers cooed and asked for pictures. Two secretly agreed to rescue one each when Bush traveled there.

On his visit, Bush told Hands On coordinator Erika Putinsky that he sympathized with families who lost dogs in Katrina. "He thought about his dog, Barney, and how upset he would have been if he lost his dog," she recalls. He snuggled a few pups. She said he was taking two home. He said no--unaware of the secret rescue mission. That was the cue for the two staffers to seize their dogs, Biloxi and Scrappy. First stop, Air Force One, where a now informed and supportive president ignored the howls. Then came the motorcade and, finally, the White House, where they were unveiled the next day. Aides swooned. Some pledged to rescue more when Bush visits the area again. "It made the White House a very happy place," says an insider.

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