Joybound’s Northern California’s Park Fire Rescue

From Fire to Forever Families

Joybound’s main disaster relief effort is to move adoptable pets out of local shelters so they can focus on reuniting lost pets with their families.

Picture this: Joybound’s disaster relief team racing to assist a partner shelter impacted by Northern California’s Park Fire this summer. Sending a caravan of vehicles to Red Bluff, CA, we returned from Tehama County Animal Services with 42 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens who were looking for forever homes – making this one of the largest single rescue intakes our team has made so far this summer.

Animal shelters quickly become overwhelmed with pets separated from their guardians during disasters. Joybound’s main disaster relief effort is to move adoptable pets out of local shelters so they can focus on reuniting lost pets with their families.

Each rescue operation is unique. When needed, we also organize supply runs for pet food and medical supplies, transport severely injured animals to our headquarters for intensive care, and deploy our veterinary team to provide on-site care, sometimes even working in medical tents near the disaster site.

Once in our care, the Park Fire dogs and cats were assessed by Joybound’s veterinary and behavioral teams. Most of them became available for adoption, quickly finding loving homes in the community. But a handful of adult dogs showed great potential as candidates for our Shelter to Service program, putting them on the path towards becoming psychiatric service dogs!

From Rodney, the extra-large, extra-friendly retriever mix who helped our team assess other dogs, to Toast, the young cat acting as a surrogate mother for a litter of kittens. Each of these shelter animals faced an uncertain future. But now, they’re on the path to bringing joy to loving families in the Bay Area.

Our hearts go out to all who have been impacted by the Park Fire. With more than 430,000 acres burnt at the time of this article being written, it is one of the largest wildfires in the state’s history.

Thankfully, Joybound’s disaster relief and admissions teams remain ready to dive into action whenever the need arises.

Note: This article was featured in the Fall 2024 issue of Joy Magazine. With a gift of just $25 to Joybound, you can be added to our mailing list and receive Joy in your mailbox for one year!