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Rescued puppies arrive in Gig Harbor after flight from Mexico

As the blue-and-white corporate jet touched down at Tacoma Narrows Airport Monday afternoon, three women waved from The Hub’s observation lounge.

“Yay! They’re here! They made it!” they cheered.

The women rushed alongside the plane after it taxied to a stop in front of the restaurant. The door swung up, steps folded down and dog crates were lowered to the tarmac. It was the end of an incredible journey that began in Zihuantanejo, Mexico, for eight rescued puppies.

From left, Grant Korgan, Shawna Korgan, Smita Balasubramanian and Shawn Linch teamed to arrange and fly eight puppies to Gig Harbor, two of which were adopted by Jenni Miller and Kris Coalman.

Rescued puppies were Mexican street dogs

The women — Kris Coalman, Jenni Miller and Smita Balasubramanian — were there to take the former callejeros, or street dogs, to new homes after they’d been saved by the Surfers for Strays program and delivered to Gig Harbor by do-gooders Grant and Shawna Korgan and Shawn Linch.

The group shifted to a fenced picnic area where the freed pups lapped water and devoured treats. Dogs of myriad sizes, colors and patterns wagged, wiggled, squirmed, cuddled, kissed and explored.

“They’re all just so grateful and happy,” said Coalman, of Gig Harbor.

Jennis Miller, Smita Balasubramanian and Kris Coalman wave from The Hub restaurant as the puppies arrive on a plane.

The special education teacher at Bremerton’s West Hills Restorative School is adopting Lola, a black Lab-looking pup (they’re all “Mexi-muts”) who was suffering from a severe skin condition when rescued in Mexico. Coalman, 55, believes the 4-month-old will get along fine with her middle-aged dogs Charlie and Mork. She has a week to find out before the $350 adoption fee and $75 training deposit become final.

“I want to give her a nice, new life up here,” she said. “It’s inspirational to me.”

Coalman was looking to add fulfillment to her days. First, she volunteered with a local political campaign. Then, after attending a Kitsap Humane Society event, she discovered Surfers for Strays online.

“I’m such a huge proponent now. It’s changing my life,” she said.

The puppies are unloaded after their plane trip from Santa Monica Airport.

Surfers for Strays

Seventy percent of Mexican dogs are strays, the women said. Families will keep a male but toss females because they’ll have more puppies that they can’t care for. Authorities round them up and “execute” them.

Someone threw Poppy, who Miller is adopting, out a car window in a bag.

“I’m so excited,” Miller, an occupational therapist for South Kitsap School District, said of taking her shepherd mix home to Federal Way. “This is my happy place right here.”

Balasubramanian adopted Sofie two years ago through Surfers for Strays. She has since become more and more involved with the group and now serves as the local coordinator. A business intelligence engineer with Amazon, she planned to shuttle the remaining half dozen puppies to her Browns Point home. New owners picked them up before the end of the day.

Jenni Miller and Kris Coalman cuddle with their new puppies Poppy and Lola.

Surfers for Strays is based out of San Diego, though most its groundwork is conducted in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacán. It operates a rescue center in the Pacific Coast resort town of Zihuatanejo. Helped by local veterinarians and citizens, founders Isabel Velasco and Natalie Ritenour organized spay and neuter clinics and educated children on how to treat and care for animals.

Visiting surfers and travelers joined in, and the organization began fostering and adopting animals to the United States and Canada. Last year, it adopted out 118 dogs to North American homes and paid for 1,930 dogs and cats to be spayed and neutered in Mexico.

A hero, and not just to puppies

Korgan and Linch, who each own a jet, had made several dog rescue flights, usually from kill shelters, but had never worked with Surfers for Strays. Shawna Korgan met Ritenour recently while surfing, and their interests clicked.

Grant and Shawna Korgan and Jenni Miller find that managing eight frisky puppies fresh off of a long flight is like herding cats.

“She said, dude, we were meant to be together,” said Grant Korgan, who volunteered to fly the puppies north from Santa Monica Airport. With his plane in the shop, Linch piloted his turbo-prop.

Korgan’s animal rescue flights are part of his Moment Foundation mission, which also features inspirational “hero” flights for military vets, first responders and others who face life-altering injuries and need an uplifting change of perspective. Korgan is a walking example, which couldn’t be said a few years ago.

A nanoscientist and adventurer, he sustained a spinal cord injury in a snowmobiling accident in 2010. Korgan ended up paralyzed from the waist down. He recovered to where he can now walk with crutches and earned several pilot licenses. On Jan. 17, 2012, he became the first spinal cord-injured athlete to ski 80 miles to Antarctica’s South Pole, which was captured in the film The Push: A South Pole Adventure, and set a world record kayaking around Lake Tahoe. He now travels the country as a motivational speaker.

Grant Korgan, Jenni Miller and Kris Coalman with a couple puppies.

Gig Harbor connections

Korgan and Linch, good friends, live in Reno, but are familiar with this area. Korgan, 45, trained with the Gig Harbor Canoe & Kayak Race Team for his Lake Tahoe paddle, and Linch, 42, was president of US Granite, Inc., with an office in Auburn. He sold the company and retired.

“We’ve got love for Gig Harbor,” Korgan said. “It’s a beautiful part of the world.”

On Monday, eight puppies could not disagree.