The Southland Firestorms: Week Two : Volunteers Turn Out in Force to Save Pets, Wildlife

While their owners bedded down in hotels or with relatives, animals displaced by Tuesday’s infernos found refuge in homes, shelters and clinics, aided by hundreds of volunteers who planned to work well into the night.

The most difficult animals to place were horses--creatures too large and too easily frightened to be evacuated easily. Hundreds of dogs, cats and other pets--as well as wild animals--were also in need of care.

“A lot of the areas affected by the fires today are all ranches, all equestrian areas,” said Ellen Ratner, executive assistant for the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

The equestrian center had temporarily sheltered 50 horses displaced in last week’s Thousand Oaks blaze, but Ratner guessed that they would have at least three times as many by the end of the night.

“I would say that this (fire) is a lot more dangerous because people are trying to get their animals out,” said Irena Rafa, a saleswoman at the Calabasas Saddlery on Craftsman Road, which had become a temporary staging area for volunteers who had brought trailers to rescue horses. “Here, people are disregarding the Fire Department and going in there trying to save them.”

Bruce Richards, shelter manager for the Los Angeles County Agoura Animal Center, said that about 75 animals had been collected by early Tuesday evening, with hundreds more expected before the night was out. During last week’s fires, the shelter housed 611 animals, Richards said.

“We have dogs, cats, goats, pigs, hamsters,” he said.

But despite the agency’s best efforts, Richards said, the rescue is stretching its resources, and the shelter expects to run low on food, blankets, and newspaper bedding for the animals.

Volunteers started working on animal evacuations almost immediately after the fires began raging again. The Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent out workers this afternoon, and has set aside a special phone number for people to call who need shelters for their pets.

A similar effort came together to help the horses, said Rafa. A Northridge businessman offered storage space for saddles and equipment, and a local veterinarian was working to help keep the horses calm.

The Equestrian Center offered to provide shelter for them, and help find trailers to transport them. The center is working with volunteers from as far south as San Diego, as well as animal control agencies, to help rescue the horses.

Some volunteer zeal went a bit far, said Kathy Jenks, director of the Ventura County Department of Animal Control.

“That’s become a problem for a while today because a bunch of people had the roads blocked with trailers” blocking firetrucks, Jenks said. But she could understand why people would go to great lengths to save a pet.

“They’re very emotional about their animals,” Jenks said. “I know I’d do the same thing so it’s hard to judge.”

Some horse owners were apparently caught off guard or not able to get their horses out of the path of the fire in time and had to simply set them free.

“We have received phone calls that horses have been turned out and are running toward the PCH,” said Bruce Richards, shelter manager for the Los Angeles County Agoura Animal Center, referring to the Pacific Coast Highway.

Private stables and other groups have offered to help with the overflow.

Sadly, many wild animals--including coyotes, raccoons, wild rabbits, squirrels and opossums-- may have burned in the fire, said Jan Brown, spokeswoman for the Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon in the Angeles National Forest. Others, she said, were able to sense that the blaze was coming, and fled or hid.

Those who were able to hide in a burrow or under some sort of cover have a chance of surviving, she said. People who find injured or stunned wild animals can contact the Waystation’s facility in Little Tujunga Canyon, where the medical staff will be on alert.

People who need to find a place for their pets can call the SPCA at (800) 730-4226.