Apparently, the blog The Crisis in Californiastruck quite a nerve with many people. A few people asked questions about how to help, and hopefully, I can provide a little information about that in this blog. I was grateful that no one assumed (or at least commented) that I had ulterior motives in writing that blog. My motivation was to help people in crisis or to help people be prepared in a future crisis. Many of my friends tell me they want to be reincarnated as one of my animals… My dogs, cats, and horses are extremely important to me and they receive the absolute best care I can provide. I can’t imagine having to flee a fire and leave my horses or barn cats or my dogs behind.
Billiegirl and the Mustang
One of the saddest stories I heard about was a severely burned cat the rescuers named “Billiegirl”. I won’t show a photo…. too sad and graphic. She died hours after being rescued. This article talks about many animals displaced by the wildfires, including a horse that took refuge from the flames in a swimming pool. She became entrapped in the pool cover, which ultimately prevented her from drowning. Here is a YouTube video describing the thousands of animals rescued from the fire. Check out this video of some non-horsey, well-intentioned guys trying to corral a frightened Mustang as she runs loose. Happily, her owners eventually saw this video and were reunited with her. How lucky was that?
The Camp Fire
The Camp Fire is the deadliest fire in California history. Here is an article that provides the statistics that document that fact. I have had several folks reach out to me after the original blog about the wildfires and ask how can we help? My suggestion would be to donate directly to the shelters and emergency agencies that are doing the hands-on rescues.
There are several “organizations” popping up that claim all monies will go to assist animal victims. Many of those are shams. I encourage you to donate directly to the rescue agencies if you are not in a position to offer hands-on support. For those who live in California, the agencies are in desperate need of foster homes and donations of time and effort as well as money. Here are two articles that describe how to help the animals affected by the wildfires: Fox News and MNN (Mother Nature Network).
For those of you looking for your personal pets, a rescue group has created an online catalog of the thousands of pets that were displaced and/or rescued from the campfire. It encourages you to look carefully at the photos, as different lighting and singed fur can drastically alter the appearance of a pet. Here is an example of that… this is the SAME dog!
The catalog listing is sobering. Can you imagine how frightened all those animals must be?
Dog ID Collars
Just this morning I received a promotional email from the company that makes the ID collars I use on my own dogs. It is a “mom and pop” company. The gal running it now is the niece of the woman who started it, who passed away not long ago. I am not affiliated with the business. I just like her product and her attention to detail. This is my favorite way of identifying my dogs, as there are no jingling tags to come off, and no need to wait for a veterinary clinic to open so you can call and rattle off a rabies tag number to find the owner of a lost dog.
My dogs all wear collars embroidered with their name and my cell phone number. While they are never left unattended, accidents do happen. A couple of times over the past years someone has called me to tell me one of my dogs is where they shouldn’t be. There is a Cyber Monday 25% off promo going on at DogIDcollar.com. Use code CYBERDOG25 at check out! There are many collar colors and embroidery colors to choose from. It is fun to design your dog’s personal attire! There are many companies that make collars like this, this just happens to be the one I use.
Is your horse identifiable?
If you want to identify your horses or have your emergency information available in the event of an accident on the trail, ID MyHorse Emergency Identification Tags are also on a Cyber Monday promotion. Through midnight on November 26th, they are 40% off.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are in full swing for the Christmas holidays. I put up my first Christmas tree in four years and I am awaiting my horsey tree skirt soon to arrive from Back in the Saddle equine products. It is snowing hard here in Kansas so no riding for me today. Hope you get to ride where you are! Happy Holidays!
For those of you looking for your personal pets, a rescue group has created an online catalog of the thousands of pets that were displaced and/or rescued from the campfire. It encourages you to look carefully at the photos, as different lighting and singed fur can drastically alter the appearance of a pet. Here is an example of that… this is the SAME dog!
If you want to identify your horses or have your emergency information available in the event of an accident on the trail, ID MyHorse Emergency Identification Tags are also on a Cyber Monday promotion. Through midnight on November 26th, they are 40% off.
