Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter assists with North Bay fires

Tens of thousands of residents in Northern California have been displaced from their homes due to the wildfires, with many unable to locate their pets.

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter said to assist Sonoma, Napa, Solano, and Mendocino Counties, they will be accepting animals affected by the disaster.

“SCCAS has placed an emergency call to foster volunteers to ask that they take in what pets they are able in order to make more space available at our shelter to house animals arriving this week. To free up additional space, SCCAS has also dropped adoption fees to $50 through October 31st, to encourage adoptions to make more space in our dog kennels and cat condos. All adopted pets are already spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped,” said General Manager, Melanie Sobel.

Santa Cruz is in an area prone to fires, and shelter officials suggest people have emergency plans in place that include their pets.

“This includes pre-packing and having ready access to Grab-and-Go packs that have a minimum of three days of food and water for all family members, sturdy shoes, personal identification medical documents (spare collar, tags, vaccination record for pets), up-to-date contact information for hotels and pet boarding facilities), required medications, and comfort items for children and pets. Your pet’s Grab-and-Go pack should also include sanitation items such as litter boxes and litter for cats and plastic bags for waste clean-up,” said Sobel.

Sobel said staff will be heading to Northern California Friday to pick up animals that were already at the shelter before the fires started.

Visit http://www.scanimalshelter.org/disaster for further information.