Animal rescuers take care of people who escape the LA fire

By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

PASADENA, California (Reuters) – A pitbull mix arrived at the Pasadena Humane covered in ash, its paws scarred from walking on fire debris, its lungs choked with smoke. A good Samaritan found the dog lying in the rubble in Altadena, wrapped him in a blanket and brought him to a shelter.

Still too weak to walk on Saturday, Canela was reunited with his owner — thanks to a CNN report on the act of kindness. The injured pet continues to receive medical treatment and is one of more than 400 animals that have arrived at the Pasadena facility since the Southern California wildfires began last Tuesday.

Animal shelters, veterinarians and rescue organizations have taken in and are helping dogs, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and other animals displaced by the ongoing fire along with their human owners.

The Humane Society began accepting animals as temporary shelter while families were fleeing their homes. But the situation changed, along with the growing disaster, which killed 13 people, burned 39,000 hectares (157.83 km) and forced at least 153,000 people from their homes.

“Now we’re seeing more injured animals coming in,” said Dia DuVernet, president and CEO of Pasadena Humane. “We’re starting to see people who have brought their animals in for what we thought was going to be a temporary shelter, but they don’t have homes to go back to, so it becomes a temporary shelter situation. long.”

Some animals have test scars, such as a severely burned Husky with burned fur and burned paws.

The chief veterinarian of the human society, Dr. Maria Pyrdek said: “Nobody ever came back to take him back, adding that the dog was showing signs of gradual recovery. He didn’t raise his head when he entered. He was completely exhausted.

The organization has entered a new phase of this disaster response, rescue search and recovery, said DuVernet. Pasadena Humane is prioritizing calls to help animals living in the burned areas – including eight injured peacocks.

An Altadena man contacted the Humane Society for help watering the cows, sheep and bull he couldn’t reach because the fire destroyed the bridge.

“We’re strategizing how we can get more water up this canyon and up this hill, so these animals don’t die of dehydration,” DuVernet said.

Throughout the crisis, DuVernet said the community has donated enough to fill five U-Haul trucks.

HORSE AND DONKEY WORK

Near Burbank, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center houses about 400 animals, mostly horses but also a few donkeys. Some were brought by their owners who moved out of their homes and others by law enforcement who found them slipping.

The Eaton (NYSE:) fire in east Los Angeles hits a neighborhood full of horse lovers.

“People have horses in their back yards in these areas,” said Leigh Anne Claywell, general manager of the horse center. “It’s been a place for horses for a long time. This is kind of where West Hollywood was born, because of all the ranchers and ranches that were in this area.”

Some of the horses that had left seemed stressed when they got to their new place, Claywell said, “but in general, everyone seems to be getting used to it.”

On Saturday, many volunteers helped walk and feed the horses and clean the grounds. The center was filled with donations of apples and carrots for the animals and pizza and sandwiches for the people. Smoke was visible from the Palisades fire to the west and the Eaton fire to the east.

At one point, all the center’s restaurants were full. Areas opened up when some evacuation orders were lifted and owners were able to return their animals.

Karrie Saydah was fetching her two donkeys and two horses that she had brought to the center when she was forced to leave her home at 3:45 am on Wednesday morning.

“It was very scary, fire burning in the sky,” said Saydah.

Saydah borrowed a horse trailer from a neighbor and drove to a lot near the Rose Bowl only to learn it was full. After finding a place for the horses Zippy and Sonny at a horse stable in Burbank, he returned with the donkeys Midge and Thelma.

On Saturday, Saydah said she was grateful to the workers and volunteers and said her animals may miss their good supply of food.

“There’s a lot of help and a lot of grace being shared,” said Saydah.