![\"Cat](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-05-09_12-23-09-811-e1746818747880.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage) <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Father and son volunteer animal rescue transport pilots Paul and Matthew Berkovitz, \u00a069 and 36,\u00a0 of Westlake,\u00a0 California,\u00a0 and Thousand Oaks,\u00a0 California,\u00a0 respectively,\u00a0 volunteers for Pilots N Paws,\u00a0 were killed along with their dog Brody at about 2:10 p.m. on May 6,\u00a0 2025 when their kit-built Van RV-10 crashed in the Simi Valley,\u00a0 a suburban neighborhood northeast of Los Angeles, soon after taking off from the William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster.<\/p>\n Their destination was the Camarillo Airport,\u00a0 60 miles southwest.<\/p>\n Said a family statement,\u00a0 \u201cPaul was a devoted father and husband, \u00a0a passionate pilot, \u00a0and a lifelong animal lover. \u00a0Brody, his loyal companion, \u00a0was by his side on many of his flights.\u00a0 Matt shared his father\u2019s passion for aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul & Matthew Berkovitz.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The light plane hit two homes.\u00a0 Both homes were damaged by fire and impact, \u00a0but the residents,\u00a0 who were reportedly inside, \u00a0\u201cwere evacuated with no reported injuries,\u201d \u00a0according to the Ventura County Fire Department.<\/p>\n The crash was the second by a kit-built Van RV-10 in 2025 in Southern California.\u00a0 The first killed the pilot and his teenaged daughter on January 2,\u00a0 2025 in Fullerton,\u00a0 injuring 20 warehouse workers on the ground.<\/p>\n The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the Fullerton crash to an unlatched cargo door,\u00a0 known to have been defective since 2010.<\/p>\n \u201cVans sent the builder-owner a retrofit kit for a secondary door latch in January 2010, \u00a0but the latch was never installed,\u201d\u00a0 the National Transportation Safety Board reported.<\/p>\n The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet completed investigation of the Berkovitz crash.<\/p>\n Seuk Kim. (Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Berkovitz crash came just over five months after a four-year volunteer animal rescue transport pilot Seuk Kim,\u00a0 49,\u00a0 of Freedom Flight,\u00a0 crashed on November 26,\u00a0 2024,\u00a0 near Windham,\u00a0 New York,\u00a0 in the Catskill mountains.<\/p>\n Seuk Kim was flying three dogs from Maryland to the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley,\u00a0 in Howe\u2019s Cave,\u00a0 New York,\u00a0 about 30 miles east of Albany.<\/p>\n His plane was a Mooney M20J, \u00a0one of the latest models of an aircraft \u00a0in continuous production since 1953,\u00a0 with more than 11,000 flown.<\/p>\n Reported Scott Simon on the November 30,\u00a0 2024 edition of the National Public Radio broadcast Weekend Edition Saturday<\/em>,\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cKim was originally from South Korea. \u00a0He and his wife, Anna Kang, \u00a0had three children, \u00a0and lived in Springfield, Virginia. \u00a0He worked in marketing and public relations, \u00a0and loved flying, \u00a0piloting as many as three flights a week, \u00a0so he could bring dogs for whom there was no room at a shelter, \u00a0to places that would take them in.<\/p>\n \u201cKim might have been happy to have us know that Whiskey, \u00a0a 4-month-old Labrador mix puppy, \u00a0survived the crash. \u00a0He has two broken legs, \u00a0but is recovering. \u00a0And Pluto, an 18-month-old terrier mix, \u00a0also survived, \u00a0and may already have been adopted. \u00a0A small puppy named Lisa, \u00a0sadly, \u00a0did not survive.<\/p>\n Paul Emaus. (Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Paul and Matthew Berkovitz died nearly five years after fellow Pilots N Paws volunteer flyer Paul Emaus,\u00a0 54,\u00a0 of Hudsonville,\u00a0 Michigan,\u00a0 crashed on May 27,\u00a0 2020 near Cambridge,\u00a0 \u00a0Ohio,\u00a0 with no dogs aboard.\u00a0 Rescued in critical condition,\u00a0 Emaus died in hospital on May 31,\u00a0 2020.<\/p>\n Emaus,\u00a0 flying a\u00a0Beechcraft-35-A33 Debonair,\u00a0 made a belly landing at the Ohio State University Don Scott Airport on February 3,\u00a0 2020,\u00a0 en route to pick up a dog,\u00a0 \u00a0when his landing gear failed to descend.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c<\/strong>Weeks later,\u201d\u00a0 Pilots N Paws posted to Facebook,\u00a0 \u201cafter major engine work and a ferry permit to fly to a shop for the rest of the repairs needed, \u00a0he got 70 miles from his departure airport when the engine quit over rough terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n The Beechcraft Debonair was a variant of the Beechcraft Bonanza,\u00a0 introduced in 1947 and still in production,\u00a0 with more than 17,000 flown.\u00a0 The Debonair model was built from 1959 until 1965.<\/p>\n Leone (Lee) Krulisch.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Leone G. <\/strong>\u201cLee\u201d Krulisch<\/strong>,\u00a0 <\/strong>84,\u00a0 executive director of the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare [SCAW] from March 1989 to March 2013,\u00a0 died on March 31,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cShe started employment with SCAW in 1984,\u201d \u00a0a SCAW announcement recalled,\u201d\u00a0 under founder Barbara Orlans,\u00a0 1928-2010,\u00a0 a member of the Animal Welfare Institute science committee since 1964,\u00a0 author of Animal Care from Protozoa to Small Mammals (1977)<\/em><\/p>\n In The Name of Science:\u00a0 Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation<\/em> (1993), \u00a0and a contributor to many other volumes on science and animal welfare.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that time, \u00a0the office was in Dr. Orlans\u2019 guest room,\u201d\u00a0 SCAW continued.\u00a0 \u201cIn the beginning, \u00a0abuse of animals in school projects and science fairs was the focus.\u00a0 SCAW gradually developed interests in the welfare of animals used in all research, testing and teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n SCAW credited Krulisch with increasing institutional membership from the 10 founding members in 1989 to \u201cabout 150 members\u201d at her death,\u00a0 coming \u201cfrom academia, \u00a0pharma and other companies, \u00a0and other organizations.<\/p>\n As well as serving on a variety of boards and committees,\u00a0 including the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing,\u00a0 Krulisch \u201cwas a community member of two different Institutional Animal Care & Use Committees for about fifteen years,\u201d\u00a0 SCAW said.<\/p>\n Krulisch \u201cwas always very fond of animals of all sorts,\u201d\u00a0 the SCAW announcement finished.\u00a0 \u201cIn her youth these included rescuing and rehabilitating squirrels, \u00a0birds, \u00a0a Muscovy duck, \u00a0a pig, \u00a0and an occasional neighborhood dog (who, it turns out, was visiting and really didn\u2019t need rescuing at all).\u00a0 For some time, she was a foster parent for golden retrievers.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheila Alane Bolin<\/strong>,\u00a0 65,\u00a0 chief executive of the Regal Swan Foundation, \u00a0died November 11, 2024 after a long illness.<\/p>\n A noted amateur tennis player in the early 1980s,\u00a0 Sheila Bolin after graduating from Eastern Kentucky University became one of the first female sheriff\u2019s deputies in the state of Florida,\u00a0 but resigned to pursue a master\u2019s degree from the Florida State University\u2019s College of Education in 1983,\u00a0 then became a teaching tennis pro,\u00a0 teaching tennis in Florida,\u00a0 Mexico,\u00a0 and the Bahamas,<\/p>\n Sheila Bolin in 1988 formed an organization called Tennis With A Different Swing to help children and others with disabilities to \u00ae, Inc. in 1988. \u00a0This led to her receiving a \u201cDaily Point of Light\u201d award personally presented by former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhile continuing her tennis career, Sheila returned to the classroom as a defensive tactics instructor for the [Florida] police academy, \u00a0where she co-authored two law enforcement books,\u201d\u00a0 a family obituary recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon retiring from tennis, \u00a0Sheila became the swan keeper and wildlife manager at Orange Lake,\u201d\u00a0 the obituary continued.\u00a0 In that capacity,\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cshe became a state-licensed alligator trapper and relocator.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheila Bolin co-founded The Regal Swan Foundation in 1999.\u00a0 This organization \u201cwas the first to pioneer the use of vaccines for botulism and West Nile Virus in swans in 2001,\u201d\u00a0 the family obituary recalled.<\/p>\n In 2007 Sheila Bolin volunteered with the Royal Swan Marker in the United Kingdom in 2007,\u00a0 whose mandate to protect the Royal swans dates to the 12th century.<\/p>\nMatthew and Paul Berkovitz, 69 & 36;\u00a0 Seuk Kim, 49;\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/span>Lee Krulisch, 80;\u00a0 Sheila Bolin,\u00a0 65<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSecond crash of same type of aircraft in Southern California this year<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSeuk Kim of Freedom Flight<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPaul Emaus remembered<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong> Leone G. \u201cLee\u201d Krulisch built SCAW<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Regal Swan Foundation founder Sheila Bolin<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\n