Hayden animal shelter welcomes dogs from L.A. shelters overflowing with wildfire-displaced pets: 'They're just ready to be loved'

Yahoo

28-01-2025

Jan. 27—As wildfires ravage Los Angeles, destroying a combined 47,800 acres, 16,000 structures and claiming 29 lives reported so far, thousands of pets were displaced, some running away in the chaos and others left behind from owners fleeing their homes.
Some were serendipitously reunited with their families when returning to the charred remains of their communities. Some are still missing, hopeful owners flooding Facebook to find their missing pets.
Many were scooped up by animal control or rescues patrolling the burned areas, ferried to animal shelters that were already bursting at the seams with pets long before the wildfires broke out. Just one shelter near a stadium housing evacuees, the Pasadena Humane Society, saw nearly a thousand pets pass through their services due to the fires, ABC News reported on Sunday.
To free up space in these overcrowded shelters for pets temporarily left by evacuees, unclaimed lost pets or those with burn injuries, shelters around the nation are opening their kennels to adoptable critters who had been sitting in LA shelters before the fires broke out.
Companions Animal Center in Hayden welcomed about a dozen dogs transported from wildfire zones, touching down at the Coeur d'Alene Airport Sunday in a plane operated by nonprofit Wings of Rescue, which delivers adoptable pets from the streets and overcrowded shelters to no-kill shelters states away.
Wings of Rescue and nonprofit Paws for Life K9 Rescue delivered 60 dogs on a flight to Hayden and the Humane Society of Western Montana in Missoula, with another batch taking refuge in Seattle Humane.
"Our mission is to just take as many pets out of shelters that have an overcrowding problem or a high kill rate, and find them homes in shelters where they are guaranteed that they will hold on to those pets until they find a forever home," said Gene Gable, Wings of Rescue spokesman.
They typically transport former strays or surrendered pets, all animals who have been in their original shelter for over 30 days.
At Companions in Hayden, 10 small, wide-eyed dogs quiver in kennels in a heated garage, yipping and hesitantly wagging their tails when a human approaches. They're a little worse for the wear, some needing medical attention or a good grooming, and all needing to be spayed or neutered, Development Director Vicky Nelson said.
"They've been through a lot; they've been through being lost, being in another shelter, being in a truck to an airport, being in an airplane ride, and sometimes they do get air sick as well ... then into our truck and then into our shelter," Nelson said. "They've had a rough go here, but they've been well taken care of."
The pups are doted upon by shelter staff and volunteers, but Nelson estimates they could be ready to adopt as soon as this week.
"Within the next week or so, we'll be kind of testing them and watching them and seeing how they might react," Nelson said. "But I tell you right now: all you got to do is open the kennel, and they're in your arms. They're just ready to be held, ready to be loved."
One dog, temporarily dubbed Eve by shelter workers, can't stand to be in her kennel, Nelson said. Estimated to be 7 months old, the poodle mix was found on the streets covered in mud over a month ago. Now, "she just wants to be held," Nelson said, and will immediately melt into Nelson's shoulder when she holds the small pooch. Beyond that, Nelson doesn't know much about the background of the dogs that come in.
Companions, a no-kill shelter, has long partnered with Wings of Rescue; they've received an estimated 5,000 animals from overflowing shelters around the country in 11 years. They're never lost pets, Nelson said; rather, they're animals that owners surrendered or strays picked up by animal control.
If they have the space, Companions will gladly open their doors, Nelson said.
"I'm glad we're able to help, and the thought of us having to call somebody else to ask for help on something and get turned down would be devastating. I know the outcome that would happen if someone else didn't help, and I'm sure those people down there are thinking the same thing," Nelson said. "If they didn't have room for those other dogs and they are a kill shelter, these animals wouldn't be around anymore."
Companions' Executive Director Debbie Jeffrey also puts herself in the other shelters' shoes.
"The way I think of it is that we're helping a neighbor, and you know what? You never know when we might need help," Jeffrey said.
The Inland Northwest knows wildfires. Jeffrey recalls the 1991 firestorm that came close to their shelter at an old location, though it happened before she started at the shelter in 1997 as a board member. It was then that she learned just how uncontrollable a blaze can be, especially in prime conditions.
Wings of Rescue is never slow on business, Gable said, as shelters around the country grapple with overflowing kennels exacerbated by natural disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. Since their founding in 2012, the four-person staff nonprofit and a slew of volunteer pilots and helpers have relocated 75,000 pets to no-kill shelters.
In recent years, Gable and Nelson both noted a surge in animal population they attributed to a few factors — namely, the economy.
"I always tell people when the economy goes south, the animal population goes through the roof because they can't afford to take care of these animals," Nelson said.
Increases to the cost of anesthesia to perform spay and neuter operations mean fewer animals are fixed, and they'll continue to breed and add to an already unsustainable animal population, Gable said.
Though they had the space for small dogs, Companions is at its capacity for larger dogs. They have a waiting list about 50-dogs deep from families looking to surrender their pets, Nelson said. In the last six months of 2024, over 500 people called looking to surrender a large dog.
They'll continue to help when they can and find their L.A. arrivals forever homes, ensuring the shelters in L.A. can focus on reuniting pets with their families, many facing devastating losses.
"You can't not help," Nelson said. "No matter what your situation is, you have to help. There's a life at stake. Granted, it's a four-legged life, but still, it's a life."
Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.