I know I wrote about this when it was all happening, but seeing the outcome and the statistics really blows you out of the water.  Just makes me mad and that’s when I get out my soap box.  Hang on it’s a bumpy ride.

I was just reading about the fires in California.  The title of the article was “Worst ever Ca. wildfires have killed 88 people, untold number of pets, horses and livestock”  Well if that doesn’t get your attention and make your stomach lurch, nothing will.  It goes on to say that it was the worst in the state’s history.  It was finally contained the last week in November.  They compared it to the Chicago fire in 1909.  Over a million and a half acres, some 400,000 more than last year.

“Death-defying efforts by animal lovers to rescue horses and pets left behind by fleeing owners are still making headlines.  Brave animal lovers risked life and limb doing what fleeing owners had no time to do.  They rushed back into already burned areas to try to salvage whatever was alive; there was mixed joy and tragic sorrow at what they found.  Scorched hooves and burned hair were good injuries, if the horse was standing.  The search for victims in the smoldering ruins continues… but cadaver dogs can not yet walk in some hot spots.  Hundreds of people are still missing.  One fire alone took 153,000 acres, destroyed 14,000 homes and another 5,000 barns and garages.”  This was taken from an article in Horse & Pony News December, 2018 issue.

Animals have been relocated to vet facilities, rescues, shelters and barns in the area.

We hear about it on the news, see a few pictures, but do we really grasp what happened here.  People just left their animals.  Some were turned loose hoping that they would find a safe place or a way out for themselves.  Yes I know that sometimes you think your safe and then the fire changes direction, and there is no time, but really couldn’t they have done something?  Made arrangements before they ran out of time?

It’s easy to sit here and think about that in warm sunny Florida, but we have hurricanes to deal with.  I’ve lived in areas where the woods were set on fire every spring break.  The neighborhood had a plan and we did something about it.  Yes people lost everything, and some even their lives trying to save their homes.  But I’m sorry, the animals look to us to protect them from harm.  I can’t bear to think of so many animals, wild or owned, being burned to death.

Things happen, sometimes unexpectedly, but where has common sense gone to.  Don’t let this happen to you or anyone you know.

Plan, prepare, and follow through.