Plane carrying over 50 adoptable dogs crashes into local golf course

PEWAUKEE — A plane carrying dozens of dogs made an emergency landing at Western Lakes Golf Course in Pewaukee on Tuesday.

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that deputies responded around 9 a.m. at the golf course. The plane suffered “significant” damage and came to a stop at the third hole of the course.

“It was a relatively disastrous landing where they went through some trees. The wings actually separated from the plane,” said Deputy Chief Matthew Haerter of Lake Country Fire and Rescue.

A total of three adults and 53 dogs were on board when the accident occurred, authorities said. The three passengers and some of the dogs were slightly injured. [Photos of the dogs further in this article].

“The pilot and his co-pilot did an amazing job getting this plane to the ground,” Haerter said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident.

HAWS said the dogs are at-risk adoptable dogs from southern shelters. They should be up for adoption in the next few days.

“I think we were all unsure of what we were going to get to, but very grateful that everyone is safe,” said Maggie Tate-Techtmann, director of organizational development at HAWS of Waukesha County.

No word on what exactly caused aircraft trouble. There are concerns that 300 gallons of jet fuel leaked into the ground and into a swamp. Haerter said the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is mitigating the situation and firefighters are working to prevent further runoff.

PGA Head Professional at the course, Garrett Mack, says Wisconsin Golf course workers swung into action after seeing the plane land. They helped remove the dogs from damaged crates and load them into vans.

“We are all dog owners and dog lovers here so being able to help out and do what we can was really important to us. Obviously the dogs were stressed. There were a lot of damaged crates so unfortunately there were some that bounced around the cabin when it fell. But all dogs are counted. Besides being scared, they all seemed to be in pretty good shape,” Mack said, according to Wisconsin Golf.

Tate-Techtmann said the unexpected landing strained their resources to respond. HAWS of Waukesha County has launched a Fundraising to help support their efforts.

That’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the photos of the adoptable dogs! Adoption information can be found on the HAWS website.