Thunderstorms Take Deadly Toll on Frightened Pets

The freak thunderstorms that hit Southern California on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning struck the region’s pets particularly hard, killing at least a dozen dogs in Ventura County alone.

The dogs died trying to cross the county’s roads and highways, and scores more turned up lost, muddied and rattled at the county’s shelter, animal regulation officials said.

Shelters in Orange and Los Angeles counties also saw dozens of stray dogs Thursday, not unexpected in thunderstorm weather.

“It just terrifies dogs,” said Denise Rosen, of the Los Angeles County animal shelter in Agoura Hills. “They’ll jump through windows, they’ll go through glass doors, they’ll do anything just to run.”

In storms, especially those with loud thunder, cats usually hunker down, but the dogs “just run and run until suddenly they look around and they don’t know where they are anymore,” said Tim Dewar, public relations director for the Humane Society of Ventura County.

On Thursday, lost dogs and hopeful owners rolled in regularly to the Ventura County shelter. Many matches were made, but the clipboards were crammed with notices of animals still homeless.

“If anyone is missing an animal from the storm, get in here as soon as they can and check,” Animal Regulation director Kathy Jenks advised.

Rosen, from the Agoura Hills shelter, said road crews on Thursday picked up a number of dogs that had been run over. She said thunderstorms scare dogs even worse than fireworks on the Fourth of July. “It seems so much louder,” she said.

In Orange County, animal control officer Marcus Nieto said he noticed a higher number of strays than usual after a series of early morning thunderstorms.

“We had 16 animals impounded this morning, and that’s close to a record for us,” Nieto said. He said two dogs were hit by cars and killed, possibly because they ran into traffic after being frightened by thunder.

Lisa T. Mori, an associate professor of psychology at Cal State Fullerton, advised animal owners to keep pets comfortable indoors as much as possible. “Pets are typically reacting to the weather biologically,” she said. “They’re pre-wired to fear certain things . . . like extremely severe weather.”

Also, she said, because animals typically have better hearing than humans, they are extremely sensitive to the thunderclaps, the way they are with fireworks.

In Ventura County, the Humane Society cautioned owners to plan ahead in the event of storms and wildfires.

“Planning is essential prior to a natural disaster, because Red Cross shelters are not equipped to house pets, and other emergency personnel are too busy doing other things,” Dewar said.

Firefighters are more concerned with saving structures and fighting fires, said Sandi Wells, public information officer with the Ventura County Fire Department.

“If we see an animal running around we might try to put it in a house, but it depends on the situation,” Wells said. “People shouldn’t rely on us to save their pets.”

Humane society officials suggest that owners of large animals, such as horses, consider painting their phone number on the animal’s side if they are unable to evacuate it.

Times staff writers Nancy Cleeland and Joe Mozingo contributed to this story.