Pets flee to vacant animal hospital amid California wildfires

(LOS ANGELES) — Southern California has been severely hit by wildfires, prompting mass evacuations and state of emergency declaration from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The dangerous winds and extreme fire conditions are expected to last through Thursday.

With residents facing evacuation orders, family pets face an uncertain situation.

Many people in the region have exotic pets and care for animals like llamas, horses and goats that need a safe place to go during this dangerous event.

Some hotels have been accommodating pets like dogs and cats, but the sheer number of animal evacuees has strained their capacity. Fortunately for pet owners, veterinarian Annie Harvilicz stepped up to care for animals.

Harvilicz owns a vacant veterinary hospital, which she opened up to house animals affected by the wildfires. The idea came to her after her brother asked for a favor as his family evacuated. They could only take their dog into the hotel they went to, but not their cat or rabbit, so he reached out to Harvilicz for alternate accommodation for those two.

“And when I moved them in, I looked around at the different examine rooms that were empty and thought, you know, we can help here,” Harvilicz told ABC News. “There is a lot of people who are probably in the same situation my brother is in. So that’s when I started getting the word out that we could take in some animals.”

Harvilicz has mainly been helping people who have multiple pets, as hotels may have a limit on how many they will accept per family. She praises the hotels for even taking in pets and is enthusiastic about how many people are calling, ready to help her.

“Most people that are reaching out to me are people ready to help,” Harvilicz said. “There’s probably a 50 to 60:1 ratio between the people who are contacting me to help versus the people who actually need help.”

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