Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- About a dozen dogs and nearly 30 cats arrived in Salt Lake City, displaced by California wildfires.
- Best Friends Animal Society seeks fosters, volunteers and donations to support the displaced pets.
SALT LAKE CITY — About a dozen dogs and nearly 30 cats arrived at the Best Friends animal adoption center Wednesday night, after a one-hour flight from California. They're some of the more than 250 so far that the organization has helped move as shelters in the Los Angeles area work to make room for animals that are displaced from the fires.
"In order to bring all those animals out of those shelters, they're having to make room by sending animals up here to Salt Lake City and to our sanctuary, which is in Kanab," Patrick Theobald, the community programs manager for the Salt Lake City shelter, said.
Best Friends is putting out a request for foster homes, as they too need to make room in its shelters. While most of the animals that are arriving from California are going out to partner rescue organizations, they are all challenged for kennel space. Theobald said so far, a lot of people have come forward.
"The swell of community support has been really breathtaking to see," Theobald said. "It's just incredibly helpful to make sure that not only we have space here in our shelter to take care of the animals who need that support, but it also is so much better for the animals' mental well-being to be in a home, rather than in a shelter environment."
Experienced animal fosters, like Lyndsay Lee, were stopping by the adoption center Wednesday to help make more room. She was taking home a cat that is not from California, though her efforts will help those displaced animals indirectly.
"I'm originally from California, so I have a very soft spot towards the fire and the animals too being affected from it," Lee said. "I really wanted to take an active approach and foster some of the cats to help them out and possibly get them adopted faster through socialization."
Aside from fosters, Theobald said Best Friends could still use help through volunteers and donations. More information on how you can help can be found at the Best Friends website.
