A North Jersey police officer is on a mission to rescue dogs that are often left for dead and help them to find a home.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in dog adoptions. These dogs often need to be shepherded around the country – often on flights piloted by Detective Glenn Pagano.

“You can’t put the feelings into words. You’re looking back there and you’re seeing that dog and you’re saying, ‘Hey buddy. You were hours away from dying,’” Pagano says.

Pagano volunteers for Pilots ‘N’ Paws – a nonprofit that has helped save over 150,000 animals. He has done about 15 trips over the last three years.

There was Ellie who had just hours to live at a kill shelter in Ohio. Pagano brought her to an animal rescue in New York. Bambino, Pumpkin and Rocco – all found new homes.

The most recent rescue was Charlie Brown, who Pagano flew with over Thanksgiving week. Charlie Brown was ditched at a shelter in Mississippi.

"When people are tired of their dogs or they don't want them anymore, you can just drive up, take the dog, throw it over a fence and it's just left there,” Pagano says.

He says that he has considered adopting one of the dogs himself.

“How could you not, you know, look back there and you say, ‘If I don’t have a dog, I would think about adopting this one,’” Pagano says.

Pagano says that his own dog Cali was chained to a pole in Louisiana and left to die until he and his wife rescued her.

Pilots ‘N’ Paws has given newfound meaning to Pagano’s hobby of flying. He has been a pilot for seven years. He says that nothing beats sharing a moment with a new furry friend.

“You know you did a great thing that day. A dog is now going to have a great home where otherwise it would’ve been in a shelter and probably marked for death,” he says.

Pagano covers the cost of the flight. He says that any other pilots should consider volunteering for the program as well.