From USA Today:
"Shelters swell with more than 1,000 animals displaced by wildfire"
Dogs in the lunchroom. Cats in a hallway. At the Camarillo Animal Shelter, which has nearly doubled its population in the wake of natural disaster, even the deputy director’s office is being used to temporarily house kenneled pets displaced by the Thomas Fire “We have never been this busy over the past 10 years, as we have been over the past few days,” said marketing director Randy Friedman. Ventura County Animal Services has fielded an “alarming” amount of calls for animal welfare this week, according to field operations supervisor Bryan Bray. “We’ve had an extreme volume of calls,” Bray said. “Everything from ‘Can you check on my animals because I’ve been evacuated’ to ‘my animals need to be evacuated’ to ‘where can I take my animals.’ ” As of late Friday, Ventura County Animal Services had received more than 1,000 displaced animals, 426 of which were being kept in Camarillo, including house pets, horses, ponies, emus, chickens, quail and a pig. The temporary shelter at the Ventura County Fairgrounds was housing 315 domestic animals, 215 equines and 47 others. “We’re stretched, but we’re making it happen,” Friedman said. “The community has really come out in a way that has just floored us.” Friedman said the community has donated “literally a ton of food” for the animals. It has also responded to the live wish list Friedman maintains on the shelter’s website. “Within a few minutes after posting something, people have purchased it and they’ve brought it to the shelter,” Friedman said. “We just needed eye drops … because our field supervisors are in the smoke and their eyes are all tearing up. All of a sudden, somebody came in with eye drops.” The Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center evacuated 59 dogs and 77 cats to the Santa Paula Airport on Monday and Tuesday. Nicky Gore-Jones, SPARC’s executive director, said the public has responded with “unbelievable generosity.” “During this week, some things were more important than others,” Gore-Jones said. “I was looking possibly for fosters at the beginning of the week, just to get animals out quickly. Then we were looking for food and … water. Every day, things have changed.” As of Friday, when the animals returned to the center, Gore-Jones’ priority has shifted back to finding homes for the animals. “Now our No. 1 priority is for people to adopt our animals because we were full before the fire and we’re overloaded now because we haven’t been able to adopt out all week,” Gore-Jones said. The Humane Society of Ventura County, which has taken in “hundreds of animals” this week at its shelter in Ojai, has made a public cry for monetary donations. “Donations are pouring in and are greatly appreciated, but the need is monumental and ongoing,” director of community outreach Greg Cooper said in a news release. The Humane Society has set up a donate link at http://hsvc.org/thomasfire. “If people want to donate, money is our No. 1 ask,” Cooper said, “since we can appropriate the funds to specific needs for fire relief.” Others have donated their time. The Camarillo shelter has been boosted by about 50 volunteers. “Hundreds” of volunteers have donated time in Ojai, according to Cooper. “We have vets and a vet tech volunteering their time,” Cooper said, “including bringing in a mobile clinic to the shelter to assist with any injuries or questions.” Cooper mentioned a dog who was brought to the Ojai shelter with singed hair and burns on all four paws and his back. “Mike” is receiving round-the-clock care. “He’s a fighter and he’s doing OK,” Cooper said. With the fire continuing to burn, Bray’s advice for animal lovers is to have a plan. “We want animal owners to be prepared,” Bray said. “Even though you may not be under a voluntary or mandatory evacuation, situations change rapidly. So we want you to be able to get out quickly with your animals and be able to house them safely. “What we’ve noticed is a lot of transportation issues as far as livestock and large animals, people not having enough trailers or not being able to get them out quickly enough. So those have been obstacles that we’ve been trying to deal with.” That included a call to an evacuated home on Casitas Pass Road, where three officers took in about 100 chickens, quail and a peacock. “We actually had three officers out there rescuing these animals,” Bray said. “We were able to successfully capture all of them and bring them to the shelter to house them safely.”
^ Animals of all shapes and sizes are threatened and need help during natural disasters - like wildfires. ^
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