Florida Urgent Rescue has been on the ground in LA helping coordinate disaster relief for animals impacted by the LA wildfires for much of the last 3 weeks.
We started at the LAPD Command Center in Will Rogers State Park and the LAFD Command Center in Zuma Beach, coordinating access for animal rescue teams to establish feeding stations, set up wireless cameras, and trap missing animals. The first trip also included visiting multiple local shelters, meeting rescue partners and planning rescue operations.
As in past fires, there are hundreds of animals who survived the fires. Most are probably in survival mode, and coming out at night looking for food and water. Getting feeding stations out is critical to keep them alive long enough to be trapped later. FUR provided wireless cameras, trapping and feeding station equipment to local rescues, and transported dog food and supplies.
As in other disasters, we’ve been working with partners throughout the West Coast to transport out adoptable animals to make space for incoming animals.
FUR has completed 5 separate transports so far, moving 62 adoptable cats and 47 dogs from Southern California shelters to receiving rescues and shelters in Northern California and Oregon.
FUR Urgent Transport
After every disaster, as people return and find their homes damaged or destroyed, a flood of owner-surrenders and strays comes into shelters. Animals who were in the shelter prior to the fires are in danger again if the shelter runs out of space.
Southern California is a unique situation because many insurance companies have pulled out of the state, and for many others the cost to rebuild will be far more than insurance will cover. Word on the street is it will take up to two years to get permits to rebuild. In the meantime, thousands of people are suddenly homeless.
FUR helps transport out animals who were in the shelters prior to the storm to make room for incoming strays and owner surrenders so animals already in the shelter before the fires aren’t euthanized for space.
FUR is working with local rescues to help by transporting adoptable animals throughout the West Coast. Local rescue partners include:
— Canine Rescue Club
— Wags and Walks
— Luxe Paws
— Pups Without Borders
Receiving organizations include:
— Street Dog Hero (Bend, OR)
— Pets in Need (Redwood City, CA)
— Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA (Burlingame, CA)
— Silicon Valley Animal Authority (Santa Clara, CA)
— Solano County SPCA (Vacaville, CA)
— Sacramento SPCA (Sacramento, CA)
— Heading Home Animal Rescue (Aptos, CA)
— Pet's Lifeline (Sonoma, CA)
There is a huge amount of work behind the scenes, and a lot of people from multiple organizations worked together to make this happen.
— Chris Miller Demianenko made the exhausting cross country trek with the FUR van to LA, and then completed four back-to-back transports from Southern California to the Bay Area and Oregon in all kinds of weather conditions. Leaving at night to arrive in Oregon during the day, I-405 was closed due to high winds and icy roads. Traveling during the day was subject to infamous California traffic. Between trips, she took time out to get the van serviced, and clean crates and launder towels and cat hammocks.
— Jacquie Navratil from Luxe Paws handled all the planning, coordination and vetting for the cats. With cats in foster homes spread out throughout LA, and different criteria from each receiving partner, there were a lot of moving parts. All in addition to her normal schedule of spaying/neutering 50 cats a week.
— Samantha Gurrie and Liam Underwood from Canine Rescue Club led the coordination with local shelters and rescues for dogs, pulled dogs from local shelters, managed the vetting, and helped work with receiving shelters and rescues.
— Samantha Marcum and Ryan Okrant from ASSERT deployed to LA to help trap cats in the burn zones, and on their return trip, they transported cats to Heading Home Animal Rescue in Santa Cruz. Ryan also coordinated donations of dog and cat food. He met Chris in the Bay Area to load up, and she brought it to Jaime Miller in Southern California, and Jaime brought it to a distribution center in Altadena.
— Maya from Viva Rescue has been active in the burn zone trapping surviving animals since the fire, and Chris met her to hand off wireless cameras and equipment to help them.
— Walt Shay was on deck to fly out to CA when we rescheduled his trip, and he may still go to do more transports. We have multiple transports lined up to receiving partners in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, and we're planning more.
— Dr. Ren Garcia from Green Dog Dental, a former firefighter turned veterinarian, set up a triage clinic for injured animals. Marc Mercury, his Chief of Staff, introduced us to key people in LA Fire Department and other organizations to get permission for rescuers to work in the burn zones.
Thank you to everyone who worked together to make this possible! 𝗙𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗟𝗬 𝗚𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗠
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