@WakeUpCall – Pasadena Humane

So Pasadena has come to a Pasadena Humane more specifically, has come to the rescue of more than a thousand PEPs since the wildfire tour through Altadena and Pasadena. We wanted to go back check in with PR and communications manager Kevin McManus to find out how things are going. So wake Up Call went out and about to Pasadena Humane. So first, Kevin, we want to go back to the night the fire started, well, the night of the.

Seventh, which is the night of eating fire broke out. Knowing where it.

Was located, we knew that we had to be prepared for emergency boarding because that's a service that we always provide to the cities.

In our neighborhood.

So we actually had staff here even overnight that first night. Thankfully, because by the end of the day on the A three had taken in over three hundred and fifty animals. So that's yeah, people, and these are the people who evacuated with their pets with them, right, So that was, you know, obviously a huge challenge for us.

We were only able to accomplish.

That because well, one, we have an incredible team of folks who work here, but we also had a ton of outside help from other shelters who realized what was going on and how they could help right away was to come in and take literally every adoptable animal that we had on site before the fire started.

Oh so you've basically cleared the space so you could take in the animals.

Yeah.

So, with the combined effort of a number of shelters, we yeah, by the end of the day on Thursday or Friday, like every animal who was here was just here for for emergency boarding and at least our owned pets.

You know that and people who you know, who they belonged to.

But with the you know, within you know, hours of the fire breaking out, we also started to see stray animals coming in and so you know, we we've i mean, since it started, we've taken in over a thousand animals at this point into the shelter alone, a combination of emergency boarding and strays, and we've also been able to reunite a lot of animals in the field.

So what that means is we have.

Animal control officers out in the burn zones, out patrolling looking for lost pets, you know, or people who have you know, found pets and brought them to us.

So we're able to reunite a lot of animals that.

Way, and so they're not necessarily even coming into the shelter. But the number now is astronomical fourteen hundreds.

Yeah, and a lot of that is, yeah, due to the really hard work of our animal control being out there as soon as they could, like in the areas that were impacted, because we knew like.

There was there were going to be a ton of animals who needed our help.

And so again we relied on a lot of assistance from other organizations ASPCA and American Humane and Sant Diego Humani Alley County, like everyone was really pitching in in such a great community, really communal effort to help these animals.

Okay, and you're continuing, you know, it's a month, is it a month? Gosh, it's like it's almost a month after the fire, and you're still holding on to some animals, and so even some of them that have been reunited, they're not ready to take them home yet because they don't have a home to go back to. So you're holding in here.

That's right.

Right from the start, we've committed to keeping people's pets as long as it took for them to get back on their feet, and we're going to stand by that. You know, we had no idea at the time that we would, you know, a month later, still be caring for two hundred and fifty family pets, dogs and another one hundred and fifty family members, another one hundred and fifty cats, plus a bunch of exotic pets that we

But you know, obviously that is a service that.

We want to do for the community because it's so important for us year round, but especially at this time to keep families together whenever possible.

Okay, So we're out and about to Pasadena Humane this week to find out about everything that's been done to rescue and care for the animals displaced in the fire in Altadena. We're talking with pr and Communications manager Kevin McManus because they have reunited fourteen hundred animals with their owners, and not only that, they're providing homes for the animals until their families are ready to take them back, and they're caring for the animals who were injured in the fire.

Right from the start, saw some injured animals coming in wildlife, but it's a lot of domestics as well, so a lot of cats have come in with burn injuries and popads, some dogs as well, And thankfully we have we have five veterinarians on staff and a really talented veterinary team who like, you know, basically we're like, okay, we'll roll up their sleeves and get to work, and we have an ICU here on site.

It was used as kind of like a triage where you know, we.

Had oxygen chambers set up for some of the cats to had a smoking inhalation. We had you know, like basically burn units for these animals. And our team has really just stepped up and you know, the care that they're giving these injured animals, you know, to make them back to hole. It's really incredible. Yeah, we're seeing now like the results of that hard work.

And the other thing that is pretty amazing is how people have turned out to donate supplies.

I mean, you've got a lot of supplies. Yeah.

It was one of the most amazing things that a couple of days after the fire, broke out. So I think Thursday, whatever the ninth, I was coming into work very early and I turned the corner onto Raymond and I saw a line of cars and I thought, you know, dear God, these are.

More people who have been evacuated, Like where are we going to put all these animals?

Right?

And it was actually people who had read a social media post we had put up that we needed four types of four things we need to create some bowls and blankets and towels, and people kind of just reacted to that in such an amazing way that we had a line of people waiting to bring us stuff.

So all of the crates and bulls and.

Blankets and towels and food and leashes and everything that we could possibly need to take care of the animals that were in our care and to provide for our food bank, which is something that we operate year round, giving people food if they can't afford it, if they you know.

Put in an effort to keep families together.

So just that amazing, outpower outpouring of support was incredible.

And then one other thing that I wanted to chat with you really quick about was a options because now, like you said, all the animals that were at the Human at Pasadena Humane were moved out to make room for the displaced animals. But now as we're walking around, we're seeing that there are some strays here and some cats that are adoptable. But you've had the adoption center closed, but that's changing. You're reopening it.

This whole time, we've also still had to operate.

Like normals, so we did get you know, non fire related stray animals, owner surrender animals. I anticipate that within the next day or two we're going to start putting the animals that will be available for adoption on the adoptable part.

Of our website.

Okay, and where's that.

It's Pasadena Humane dot org.

If you want to click view Pets, you can kind of see the animals that are here.

If you're still looking for your lost animal at this point, there's also a link on the website.

So please, if you see an animal that you think is yours, call us, even if you're not in a place where you can reclaim that animal. To know, so we don't accidentally adopt out someone's a name, right.

Because at some point, if nobody comes to claim them, they will become adoptable, right.

And that's the sad kind of reality of just shelters. Yeah, a lot of animals they come in like nobody comes to get them and for whatever reason, you know, we'll never understand it, but we Yeah, our goal is to make every animal that comes in here find their their happy home. And if it's not with their home that they were within a month ago, then that's okay too.

Yep. And I can tell there's good animal who's a good animals here. Like I said, I got my Alex here and then one of my best friends just got a new kitten and his name is Ozzie and he's growing like a weed and we got him here and he's a beautiful, beautiful animal. So if you're looking to adopt, check out Pasadena you may and is it dot org or dot com, dot org, dot org. Kevin McManus, thank you and thank you for everything that you and everybody at Pasadena.

And he made the still thank you our pleasure.

See you made me cry at the very end. I made it through the whole interview before I started grining. So thanks to Kevin and everybody Pasadena. I mean they are doing I mean they're doing God's worth. It's amazing what they're doing. And like I said, we got to tour around and see all the animals, and if they have a name tag on the enclosure or the cage, whatever,