Anchorman leaves television to rescue dogs, bears and bald eagles

For more than 30 years, Ken Wayne was a familiar face of Bay Area television news. While the longtime anchorman — who retired this spring — is off the air now, he plans to spend a good chunk of his free time up in the air — saving abused and abandoned animals one small planeload at a time.

Wayne, 63, founded Flying Tails six years ago and has flown all over the state helping 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 reach out to Wayne to see if he can fly them to their forever homes or rescue ranches.

“We take dogs from all over the state of California and it’s much easier on the dog if they can fly up here than have to drive in a car,’’ said Alice Mayn, the founder and CEO of Lily’s Legacy Senior Dog Sanctuary in Sonoma County. “To have a pilot who is donating his time and his aircraft to transport a needy creature is just exceptional. What a gift he is to the dogs and humans 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 the passions was a natural fit. And the animals seem to respond well in the air.

“There’s something special about the calming effect flying has,” said Wayne, a Marin County native. “Even a distressed animal who’s been through God knows what, invariably settles down and even goes to sleep. Maybe it’s the smooth drone of the engine or the plane’s vibration, but it’s soothing. … And when I’m up in the air, cruising along in almost a Zen state, knowing this animal is going to be in a whole better place, well, that’s a huge satisfaction.”

Wayne, who lives in Petaluma, recently incorporated Flying Tails as a nonprofit organization, which will allow him to use his Cessna 182 Skylane to transport more animals at greater distances because he will receive some financial support from donors.

On a clear, warm day last week, Wayne and co-pilot Lou Rivas flew from the Livermore Airport to the Santa Monica Airport to pick up an injured chihuahua that had been rescued in Harbin, China, by an American-led group, Slaughterhouse Survivors.

The dog, Cupcake, had her two back paws chopped off by a man who was angry at the dog’s owner, said Odessa Gunn, the founder of Sonoma County’s Little Trooper Ranch, 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 swooped 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 truly is saving lives,’’ Gunn said of Wayne.

Also on that flight was Gemma, a golden retriever–lab mix pulled from a kill shelter by a Southern California rescue group.

“They said she was aggressive and dangerous, but she’s the most loving dog ever,’’ said Brett Herman, an animal rescue volunteer who brought Gemma to Wayne at the Santa Monica Airport.

It was a tight fit on the four-seater plane with four adults, two crated pups and the 70-pound Gemma wandering the cabin demanding ear scratches. After wiggling around, she calmed down, curled up on the floor and had a peaceful two-hour nap back to the Bay Area.

Gemma is now with Lily’s Legacy, awaiting adoption.

It’s not just dogs that Wayne has rescued over the years. When the mother of two bear cubs was hit by a car in Mariposa County in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada range, the cubs were taken to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care but were too young to survive on their own. So, Wayne and his wife, Carol, took out the backseats of the plane, put the steel crate inside and took to the air.

“I was hunched up against the dashboard of the plane, but we made it work,’’ said Wayne.

The couple flew the cubs to the Ramona Wildlife Center in San Diego County, where they spent a warm winter before they were released back into the wild when they were old enough to fend for themselves, said Wayne.

And when a bald eagle was injured in a fight with some osprey over fish in Plumas County up north, Wayne was called to transport the eventually recovered bird back into the wild.

“It took a second because the bird was trying to assess what was going on, but then it just took off,” Wayne said. “That was quite a sight to see and made it all worth it.”

Wayne does not have a set schedule for rescue missions but usually flies a couple of times a month. When he isn’t flying rescue animals, he is working on getting his commercial pilot’s rating and volunteering with Rotary. He also uses his broadcast 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 one tiny sliver better for an innocent little animal that somehow ended up in a bad situation. It’s not much in the big scheme of things. But it’s important for that little critter that just needed a chance. Selfishly, it makes me feel better.”