Lost Pets Reunited With Owners After California Wildfires

Carr Fire Pet Rescue and Reunification have stepped up to reunite pets and their owners after being seperated in the California wildfires, The Journal Gazette reported Sunday.

The team of around 35 volunteers began the mission last year when the Tubbs fire killed 22 people in the San Francisco area. Now, they’re working to bring pets home that were left behind in the Carr fire.

So far, the group has returned around 80 pets to their loving owners. Many of the animals were left behind when wildfires approached quickly. Most of the animals found are cats, who have “been through hell” according to Robin Bray, the group’s field coordinator.

When found, the animals are shared on the group’s social media pages and special “lost pet” kiosks in Redding, California. But finding the animals is just the start. The volunteers go to great lengths to catch the animals, who have been surviving on their own. Typical equipment includes night vision cameras and traps, and a stakeout of an area where a animal has been spotted.

People watch flames from the Holy Fire outside Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Corona, California, southeast of Los Angeles, on August 10, 2018. The wildfires separated many families from their pets. ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

The crew says reuniting the families with their animals is fulfilling. “So many of these people have lost everything,” Bray told The Journal Gazette. “The only thing they care about is finding their pet that they love. They want that hope back in their lives, and we're trying to provide that.”

The group reunited a cat, Bella with her owners, who believed she was dead. Venesa Rhodes and husband rushed to grab their two cats as the wildfire was just minutes from their home. They secured their first cat, but Bella ran off and hid. With no time to lure her out, the couple was forced to leave her behind.

The couple was called six weeks later, after relocating to Anchorage, Alaska, with the realization that Bella was alive. Bella wasn’t healthy. Her once-grey paws turned pink and she had burn marks on her back, but she was able to go home.

Another family felt the same relief when they learned their cat had, somehow, survived the fire. Steve and Susan Cortopassi were reunited with two cats, Big Ernie and Elsa, one just weeks after the fire, and one months.

“It was just complete and utter devastation,” Susan said. “It's just a miracle they're alive. It's like, life finds a way.”

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