When a house goes up in flames, there’s an overwhelming sense of relief when you manage to get your family out safely. But what about your pets? It’s heart-wrenching to think about leaving your furry family members behind, especially when they might be hiding or panicking amidst the chaos. Often, if there’s no one home during a fire, pets are left to fend for themselves, leaving dozens, if not hundreds, of owners clinging to the hope of reuniting with their resilient pets that somehow managed to survive.
Take the Eaton fire, for example. After the blaze, the Pasadena Humane Society, alongside the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and animal control officers, took in hundreds of animals. These quick actions are crucial because pets left in the aftermath of such disasters face starvation, dehydration, or even attacks from predators.
In Pacific Palisades, access for residents trying to find pets has been severely limited. Moreover, nonprofit animal welfare organizations with seasoned rescuers haven’t been given the green light to enter and conduct searches.
This situation needs to change—immediately—before even more cherished pets are lost.
After a disaster of such magnitude, cities are thrown into a frenzy, trying to coordinate resources and responses. In Los Angeles, officials have restricted access to only animal control and humane officers from the city’s shelter system, along with other local government animal control officers. Mayor Karen Bass’s spokesman explained this as a measure decided by law enforcement to keep residents safe.
But the yearning to find their pets drives many residents to act, knowing their scared pets might respond to their voices amidst the wreckage of their former homes. Desperate, some owners have turned to nonprofit animal welfare groups to assist. Social Compassion, a nonprofit headed by Judie Mancuso, sought a formal agreement with the city to permit their experienced partners into burned zones, but efforts were in vain.
The time has come to allow these groups to assist in pet recovery. Two and a half weeks post-fire in the Palisades, every moment is precious. Mancuso has been overwhelmed with calls from pet owners bracing for imminent bulldozing. “But we’re still trying to get these animals that are left there out alive,” she said.
Certainly, animal control officers are doing their part. They’re trained to handle such situations, providing water, setting up feeding stations, and searching for a variety of animals, from dogs and cats to even trying to safeguard koi ponds. Still, many animals need to be extracted from the danger zone entirely.
City shelters have prepared to accommodate large numbers of animals displaced by the fires. Nonprofits have relocated pre-existing shelter animals to other cities to free up space. Pet owners can report missing pets via a hotline, providing details about their whereabouts and descriptions to aid identification. Initially, responses were slow, but there’s improvement.
The involvement of skilled animal rescuers could be invaluable. These experts know how to humanely capture frightened animals, setting traps with food and monitoring them remotely to ensure the safety and capture of pets.
Rescuers usually work alongside residents, or they target specific addresses and descriptions of pets to track. Sometimes, they manage to get photos of elusive animals, keeping the hope alive for owners.
Consider Lisa Kaas Boyle and her husband, who lost their home in the Palisades. Rescuers managed to photograph their cats, Blue and Vincent. “I have already gone through the mourning process and decided I had lost everything. But then to be sent these photos,” she expressed. “I thought, ‘Please just give me back those cats and we’ll call it even.’”
Pets hold immeasurable importance in our lives. Think back to Hurricane Katrina—nearly half of the residents who refused evacuation stayed because they couldn’t take their pets with them. This led Congress to enact the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act in 2006, ensuring local emergency plans consider animals during disasters.
The response in L.A. has been sluggish and has failed to sufficiently coordinate with nonprofit organizations ready to offer aid. Over the weeks, some rescuers have ventured unofficially into the Palisades, occasionally receiving tacit support from on-site animal control officers. This cooperation is vital and should be officially embraced.
Rescuer Valarie Ianniello, co-founder of Women United for Animal Welfare, shared an anecdote where an animal control officer she befriended helped by restocking food in one of her traps. When a captured pet was identified as a cat she was tracking, the officer contacted her with good news. As per protocol, the officer transported the animal to the shelter.
Ianniello then notified the owner, who joyfully reconciled with his cat, Toasty, a 22-year-old who endured 16 days since the fire began. “These cats,” Ianniello remarked, “they really do have nine lives, right?”
