Desert Paws New Mexico

See original article: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Scoop/Back-at-home

Stuff doesn’t matter. When a fire licks at your doorstep, you get out with the things you love.

That’s what Lisa Inkret learned during the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire. This time around, she and her partner quickly loaded up their pets and headed out of town. But their three dogs and the two other pets they were taking care of were a bit much for the friends they hooked up with that first night.

So Inkret found a safe haven for all five critters at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society. On Sunday morning, they were among the first to reclaim their loved ones.

“We would have been sunk without the shelter,” Inkret said Sunday, filling out the paperwork to get back her babies, Izzy and BamBam. “We all tried with our friends, but we would have had to have a kennel license. There were nine dogs.”

Inkret was among dozens of people who made a beeline to the Santa Fe shelter and Española Valley Humane Society Sunday and Monday to reunite with their pets. The Santa Fe shelter took in 166 evacuated animals, while the Española shelter took in 108.

Both shelters worked throughout the week to clear out kennels for the evacuees, freeing up space by finding homes for shelter dogs with foster families, boarding kennels and veterinary clinics. Many critters were also transferred to shelters in Colorado, which made a special effort to help take on adoptable animals.

As the shelters slowly returned to normal this week, shelter workers continued to be amazed at the outpouring of support from the community — not just from the evacuees, but from ordinary people who wanted to help.

Justin Irwin, who handles licensing and other duties for the Santa Fe shelter, said he couldn’t believe the amount of pet food donated almost hourly from the general public. “People are bringing hundreds of pounds of food,” he said during the height of the evacuation last week. “Did you see the women’s bathroom? It’s completely full of food.”

Indeed, the Santa Fe shelter quickly ran out of room for food and other supplies, including kennels, beds and toys. The shelter tucked valuables away in every conceivable storage area, including several restrooms.

The same was true in Española. There, a group of volunteers quickly constructed a donated storage shed, filling it up with pet food.

“Before this, we had to take a weekly inventory to make sure that we had enough food and cat litter for the coming week,” wrote Nina Chiotasso, who handles the Española shelter’s community relations. “Right now we do not need to worry about that. Our food sheds are full and our animals are comfortably bedded.”

That kind of community support was just as touching as seeing people reuniting with pets, said Bill Hutchison, the Santa Fe shelter’s director of communications. Volunteers and staff were quick to come to the shelter’s aid, he said, walking dogs, washing blankets and making food for the animals.

“I feel like I’ve made at least 20 new friends,” said volunteer Leslie Rich, who worked daily helping evacuees visit their furry friends. She was also one of the first to arrive early Sunday to help ease the transition for the animals. “People were lined up, even before the evacuation order was lifted.”

It was an emotional time for everyone involved, Hutchison and Chiotasso said.

“I think with Cerro Grande still looming in people’s memories, people were hoping for the best but fearing the worst,” he said. “When Los Alamos repopulated with virtually no damage, to a town still bearing the scars of a wildfire a decade ago, we saw people and their animals breath a collective sigh of relief.”

Not all evacuees were left unscathed. Felines Tincan and Pinky suffered minor injures when their house burned down. Their owner, Chris, visited them on Sunday, but couldn’t collect them until he’s found a safe place for their return.

It was a close call for many people who lived in the line of the fire. Raymond Sandor and Krystyn Bleda, who operate Desert Paws Animal Rescue in Cochiti Lake, said they were under stand-by evacuation from early Monday until Wednesday. The fire burned their “backyard” — Dixon’s apple orchard, Bland and Cochiti canyons, but their area was spared.

The two were prepared, however, for the worst. They were ready to move out 35 animals, which included their rescue animals and neighbors’ pets, to safe places in Madrid and elsewhere. They said they are thankful for those who stepped up and were ready to help caravan the animals out and offered safe haven, including Walt Borman, and the Allen and Littman families.

“It was really scary at first,” Bleda said. “It set the tone for the week. The whole town came together. We can still see the fire from our deck, but they’re confident the fire line will hold.”

While the town went through a tough week, many of the firefighters and residents gathered July Fourth for a celebration on the town green, where Desert Paws had some animals available for adoption.

“Almost every member of the firefighting team that we talked with who came to enjoy the festivities had pets at home that they missed,” she said. “They were all happy to play with our rescue pets.”

Seeing the community come together in an emergency was a thing of beauty, said the Santa Fe shelter’s Mary Martin. The new facility, which opened in 2005, was built to be a center-point for animal evacuations of any kind, she said.

“I am grateful to those who came before me,” she said, “those who built this shelter to ensure that in an event like the Las Conchas Fire, every animal could find a safe haven. We were proud to see the fruits of their wisdom borne out during the last week.”

But Martin said she’s not ready to relax. “I’m not convinced this is over,” she said. “And if it’s not, we’re ready for the next one.”

Cats and dogs weren’t the only critters reunited Sunday. One turtle, Zeus, was popular among shelter workers, while a group of guinea pigs made a special noise when their owner, Cheryl Rosenberger, returned to fetch them.

Rosenberger, whose always had guinea pigs, said she never thought about keeping the guinea pigs at the shelter until she brought in her daughter’s dog, Cinder, for safe-keeping.

The hotel room was too small for the guinea pigs and her daughter’s Doberman pinscher, she said. Her daughter Ashley Coghill, was on the East Coast when the evacuation order came, and she struggled to get home as quickly as she could, she said.

“I wanted to come as soon as I got home,” Coghill, 19, said. “But my mom said I had to wait.”

Helping owners reunite with their pets made the long hours at the shelter worthwhile, said Hutchison.

“Watching the scenes in the lobby was one of the most exciting parts,” he said. “Grown men cried when reunited with their big strong dogs, and little girls squeezed their kittens tight. I think I even saw that turtle grin when his owner came.”

We did it !!!!  The town of Cochiti Lake now has a ban on chaining animals. Thanks to those that went door-to-door, all who helped and all who signed petitions and all who care.