The wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles and Southern California have left hundreds of animals displaced from or abandoned by their owners. This has led to an influx of animals in shelters around the Los Angeles area that are already overcrowded.
Paris Hilton and other celebrities that are animal lovers are using their platform and resources to help reunite lost pets and their owners. But there's a lot that you and I can do in the meantime to help as well. If you're interested in helping animals that were affected by the California wildfires, here are some ways you can help.
How to help animals impacted by LA wildfires
Donate Money
One of the best ways you can help, especially if you aren't local to the Los Angeles area, is by donating money to some of the animal shelters in and around Los Angeles that are housing pets. Or, you can also donate money to some of the organizations that are helping provide supplies or transporting pets to other facilities to make more space.
Good organizations directly in Los Angeles that you can donate money to include:
Labelle Foundation
Lange Foundation
Los Angeles County Animal Care & Control
Los Angeles Department of Animal Services
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (SPCALA)
The Animal Wellness Foundation in Marina Del Ray is helping to provide medical care for animals affected by the wildfires and is accepting donations. You can also donate to Best Friends Animal Society who are helping to provide supplies and transport for animals to make room for others.
Donate Supplies
If you are local to Los Angeles, you can also consider donating supplies directly to the organizations listed above or to the animal shelters themselves. Dog items such as beds, blankets, toys, leashes, food and water bowls, and food are all good items to donate, and many shelters don't care if these items are new or used.
For cats, some suggestions for items you can donate include beds and blankets, litter boxes and litter, food and water bowls, food, toys, and even things such as scratching posts. Again, many of these items can be new or used, so if you have items lying around that you don't need anymore, consider donating them to local shelters.
Volunteer Your Time
Many animal shelters also need people to volunteer to help take care of the animals. With such an influx of animals, many shelters don't have the amount of staff they need to care for so many pets. You can help by volunteering to help feed and play with the animals, or even walk the dogs or just spend time with the pets until they are reunited with their owners.
Foster a Pet
Another really awesome way to help animals affected by the wildfires is to volunteer to foster one or more pets until they are reunited with their owners or adopted by someone. Fostering a pet means keeping them in your home to make space for more animals in shelters. It does take a significant time and financial commitment, but the effect is tremendous, especially if more and more volunteer to foster.
There are usually requirements to foster, such as a fenced-in yard or others things on an individual basis, such as the ability to administer medicines to pets that need them. Plus, some animals don't play well with others, so these are all things you need to consider before deciding to sign up to foster. But again. the efforts are worth it, and you may end up deciding to adopt a new furry friend of your own.
Spread the Word
If you can't help in any other way, you can spread the word about ways to help animals in Los Angeles by sharing this article or others, as well as sharing social media posts from animal welfare organizations relating to animals affected by the Los Angeles wildfires.
You can also follow Los Angeles area animal shelters on social media because they often post individual pets in the hopes of finding their owners. Sharing these posts on social media helps them reach a wider audience, and you sharing a post may help reunited one of these displaced pets with their owners, or help a pet that was abandoned find a new, loving home.