Californians scrambled to evacuate dogs, cats, horses, even pigs as LA flames closed in

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Arianna Buturovic, who runs a shelter for rescued stray dogs on the outskirts of Los Angeles, watched warily as smoke rose in the distance. Within hours, a massive wildfire ignited in the nearby mountains and began to engulf her shelter.

“I crammed 15 dogs and two cats into a black Prius,” Buturovic said. But she still had nine dogs and a pig to evacuate, so she flagged down some 18-year-olds in pickup trucks who agreed to take the animals to a shelter. She couldn't take two ponies, but she opened their pen so they could escape if necessary.

“That's how we evacuated almost 30 animals,” she said, “It was crazy.” Buturovic was among the many animal owners in Los Angeles who scrambled to flee the rapidly spreading wildfire with their beloved pets. The wildfire resulted in 11 fatalities and destroyed over 12,000 homes and other structures. Shelters were overwhelmed, and leaders pleaded with people to find friends or family to foster their pets if possible.

Wendy Winter and her husband decided to buy some cat cages on Tuesday night to evacuate with their cats, Purry Mason and Jerry, from their home in Altadena. Less than two hours later, they realized they had to leave. The next morning, they learned that their house, where they had lived for more than seven years, was burned to the ground along with the entire street. “There’s fear and loss, you don’t even know what’s happening,” she said. “You’re in shock.” They hoped to find friends to foster their cats for two months so they could figure out their next steps. Winter said she and her husband felt lost and were unsure if they could provide a safe and comfortable environment for their cats right now.

Some people took their pets to shelters because they were unable to evacuate with them. The Pasadena Humane Society took in 250 pets on the first day of the fire. The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care is caring for 97 pets — mostly cats and dogs, but also pigs, turtles, birds, and snakes, said department spokesperson Christopher Vales. Dr. Anne Havanelitz, a veterinarian, had been moving out of an old animal health center office in Marina del Rey, but inspired by her brother’s need to find placement for his pets, she converted the exam rooms, X-ray room, and operating room into a makeshift shelter. She quickly took in 41 dogs, cats, and a rabbit and soon found foster homes for all but two of them. She told people on Facebook to contact her if they needed a place for their animals. She had expected to be inundated with pets needing shelter but was instead overwhelmed by volunteers wanting to help. “I’m so proud of the people of Los Angeles, I really feel like they’re doing an amazing job helping each other,” she said.

Some people wanted Havanelitz to take in their donkeys, but she couldn’t find a trailer before they had to evacuate. She said the difficulty in transporting large animals puts them at greater risk from wildfires. Julia Bargen, a member of the Facebook group “Southern California Horse Emergency Evacuation,” found five horses locked in their stalls in Altadena a day after the fire started. The horses were huddled in a small corral outside the stalls but could not fully escape the flames. One horse was severely injured when a neighbor called for help and firefighters used bolt cutters to free them, Bargen said.

She drove through the fire’s wreckage to rescue them on Wednesday night, with damaged power lines sparking overhead. She described it as the “craziest, most dangerous” evacuation she had ever experienced. By the time she arrived, almost all of the homes in the area had been burned. The injured horse, a 3-year-old black mare, which she decided to name Flicka after the movie “My Friend Flicka,” had burns on her legs. Its halter was burned off, and its tail and mane were singed. Embers had ulcerated its eyes. A veterinarian at an equine emergency hospital said the horse had a 50% chance of survival. “It had no chance, being locked in a stall and left there after its owners evacuated,” Bargen said.

But some horse owners were prepared. When Meredith MacKenzie received notice of increased fire risk a few days earlier, she asked people at the stable to help evacuate her horses so she could focus on caring for her sister, who has Alzheimer’s. “Horse people aren’t stupid when it comes to fires. We left before the fire started, because once there’s smoke, the horses go crazy,” MacKenzie said. “They’re hard to control because they just want to run.” She said her horse boarding ranch, the historic Bob Williams Ranch on Cheney Trail, was burned down. MacKenzie lost her equipment, but another ranch said they would give her a saddle and bridle.

Suzanne Cassel evacuated from Topanga on Tuesday with her two horses, a donkey named Oscar Nelson, four dogs, and two cats. They rushed to a large animal emergency shelter at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. Her horses were together at the shelter, while the dogs and cats stayed in a horse trailer. However, her donkey was feeling distressed being alone in a stall. “He was lonely, so I just went in and sat in the stall with him for half an hour, and he loved it, because no one likes to be alone when you’re a herd animal,” she said.

Buturovic, who runs the dog rescue shelter, sent some of her dogs to Havanelitz’s old hospital and others to a friend’s house in Venice. When she returned to her Topanga ranch on Wednesday morning, it was burned to the ground. The concrete structure, which had survived two or three other fires since the 1950s, was covered in soot, the roof was gone, and the windows were blown out. Her ponies were gone, as were two semi-feral dogs she had been feeding. She hopes to raise money to support her nonprofit, Philozoia, which rescues animals from high-kill shelters. “I don’t know what we’re going to do next,” she said.

(Associated Press writer Gillian Flaccus in Seattle contributed to this report. AP writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu also contributed to this report.)