About Island Pet Movers
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Who We Are
Island Pet Movers was created by Kari Mendoza after she watched her best friend struggle through the process of preparing her dog to transfer to Hawaii while her husband was deployed to Iraq. As a prior land development project manager, Kari knew that the process of working with government agencies can be challenging and sometimes confusing and that she could make the process easy and stress free for our clients.
Strong Military Ties
As an Army family kid, and a Navy Veteran, Kari has spent most of her life moving from duty station to duty station, and while schools and neighbors may have changed every three years, she was fortunate to have one thing remain stable in her life, her pets! Growing up, as well as during her own enlistment in the U.S. Navy, her four-legged family members accompanied her around the country and throughout Europe. Even though it was difficult at times, her parents instilled in her the belief that pets are family members too, and moving them as part of the family will be done whatever it takes.
To say Kari has had many different pets throughout her life is a bit of an understatement. In addition to the “normal” cats and dogs, pets have included: Rats, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, Horses, Donkeys, miniature Donkeys, Goats, Pot Bellied Pigs, Parakeets, Sun Conure, Macaw, Burmese Python, Raccoon, Ferrets, and Alpacas!
Dog training and reading animal behavior is an added bonus Kari brings in helping ease the stress of your pet’s move.
Several members of our staff are military spouses, many of whom have been able to stay with the company while moving across the country with the military, when we say “we get military PCS stress”, we really truly get it!
Kari is an active member of the International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (IPATA), speaking as an expert in Panama City, Las Vegas, Nevada, Melbourne, Australia, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Kari is often sought out for her expertise in the industry from airlines revamping their pet transport protocols, including Hawaiian, Alaska, and American Airlines. Your pets are in the hands of pros when you are working with our team.
Following United airlines snub nose and large breed embargo of 2017, Island Pet Movers lobbied for pet flights with an airline that previously had been unwilling to fly pets. After 8 long months of negotiations and tons of paperwork, we chartered our first flight from Guam to Honolulu moving pets who at the time had no other options to move to or from Guam.
During covid as flights in and out of Hawaii came to a screeching halt, Island Pet Movers quickly pivoted and we switched into overdrive, we found routes unavailable to general public by working hand in hand with our partner airlines, our fellow IPATA agents across the US and the globe.
To put a little perspective on what we achieved during covid lockdown: on May 23rd 2020, there were only 12 flights that landed at Honolulu International Airport. We had access to less than 5 flights a day that allowed pet travel whereas prior to March 2020, we had over 60 pet friendly flights per day.
That day, only 912 passengers or crew arrived to Oahu, compared to 35,464 the same day one year prior. *
Many of our clients had their flight cancel numerous times, one had her pet’s flight cancel NINE times.
Despite all of these challenges, Island Pet Movers had one of our busiest years, we moved 2832 families and their 5935 pets.
Our staff are dedicated to keeping families together, we love what we do, and we will always find the solution to help keep your family together.
Noteworthy Milestones of IPM
We pride ourselves in keeping our rates as reasonable as possible, compare us to our competitors and you’ll find we truly believe in affordability of keeping pets with their families.
- Our Testimonial
Words from Our Happy Pet Owners
This is my 3rd (maybe 4th!) time using Island Pet Movers, and once again I am beyond impressed with their service. Every time I’ve worked with them, the process has been smooth, professional, and filled with the kind of care that gives you peace of mind when moving your pets.
