By Amy Graff
Canelo rested in a kennel at Pasadena Humane on Wednesday, his limbs bandaged as he looked anxiously out from beneath the plastic cone around his head.
Canelo, a pit bull mix, suffered serious burns last week after jumping out of his owner’s vehicle while they escaped the Eaton Fire area.
“It must have been horrifying for someone to have their dog in the car and then have to get out into the fire — and keep driving with the fire right behind you,” stated Kevin McManus, a representative for Pasadena Humane. “The fire broke out so fast.”
Canelo was discovered in the fire-affected area and reunited with his owner a few days later; however, he is currently staying at the shelter while his owner looks for a new place to live after losing their home, according to McManus.
Canelo is among over 700 animals that have been taken to the shelter in Old Town Pasadena since the Eaton fire erupted and ravaged the Altadena community. Of these, 150 are strays found in the fire zone needing to be reunited with their families. The rest were surrendered by their owners who were displaced due to the fire and require temporary care for their pets.
“Many of our pets don’t currently have a home to return to,” McManus mentioned.
Attempts to contact Canelo’s owner for comment were unsuccessful.
The shelter is currently housing mostly cats and dogs, but there are also rabbits, chickens, lizards, a few goats and pigs, as well as a large tortoise. A goldfish was brought in a stockpot, and a pony stayed overnight before being relocated to a horse boarding facility.
All the animals at the facility were impacted by the Eaton fire. Animals present at the shelter prior to the fire were moved to various cities including San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Sacramento.
The shelter has experienced an increase in volunteers and donations of food, bowls, and leashes since the fire started. Emily Klonicki, a scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, which is currently under evacuation, volunteered on Wednesday. She witnessed a tortoise and two huskies reunite with their families.
“It’s uplifting to witness these moments of hope and to see families come back together,” Klonicki remarked.
Diana Patel was conversing with volunteers at the shelter regarding her parents’ missing cat, a 4-year-old brown- and gray-striped tabby named Blue Jay. Her parents’ residence, her childhood home, was destroyed in the Eaton fire. Although they managed to evacuate with their three parrots, Blue Jay was unaccounted for.
“We had to leave her in the house, hoping everything would turn out fine,” Patel explained.
On Wednesday, Patel reviewed a list of deceased pets and looked at pictures of numerous stray cats at the shelter, but none resembled Blue Jay. She remains optimistic that her parents’ tabby will be found.
“Cats can be quite elusive, right?” Patel said. “So who knows? Fingers crossed.”
