The biggest ever multi-species airlift from Ireland will be carried out by Bothar as 1,500 animals will fly to Rwanda from Shannon.
The ‘Bothar Ark’ will depart from Shannon airport on Monday October 10, 2016 with a cargo of cattle, pigs, and poultry on the 25th anniversary of the charities first airlift, which also took off from Shannon.
The 1,500 animals to be transported to Rwanda will include 40 in-calf dairy cows, 260 pigs, 200 dairy goats and 1,000 chicks.
Speaking at the launch of the airlift and Shannon’s designation as the aviation partner, Bothar CEO Dave Moloney said that final preparations are now in place for what will be the most significant airlift of Bothar’s quarter of a century of livestock aid activity.
L-R Niall Maloney, Shannon Airport Director of Operations, Sophie Hayes, Bothar Volunteer and Dave Moloney, CEO Bothar. Pic Arthur Ellis.
“This is the most important airlift we have ever pulled together, for many reasons. It’s our biggest airlift in terms of numbers and species and, in that regard, a record in an Irish context. It also marks our 25th birthday as an aid organisation and what a journey it has been.
“There’s also a great deal of nostalgia, not just because of the birthday but because we are back where it all started, at Shannon Airport,” Moloney said.
We have since turned into one of Ireland’s best known charities and which transforms the lives of thousands of the world’s poorest annually with gifts of food and income producing livestock.
Shannon Airport are delighted to support Bothar in their efforts to transport animals and food to people in the developing world, according to Niall Maloney, Airport Operations Director.
“They have been airlifting cows, in particular, from here to some of the most-needy people in the world for a quarter of a century. It’s a remarkable contribution, not least when you think of the organisation’s origins.
“It was just supposed to have been a once-off. Thankfully for tens of thousands of people across the world, whose lives have been changed beyond their wildest hopes by the gift of food and income producing animals, it hasn’t stopped rolling since,” Maloney said.