Since its founding in 1903, the Pasadena Humane Society has dedicated itself to safeguarding animals through learning, integrity, collaboration, and kindness, or LICK, the acronym that signifies its core values. These values can be seen through the fostering of a caring and compassionate community for all animals. Now, as the Pasadena Humane continues to recover from the impacts of the Eaton fire, its past experiences with natural disasters have prepared them well to assist the needs of the community in the face of trouble.
In an interview with Kevin McManus, PR & Communications Manager at Pasadena Humane, Flintridge Press learned about the impacts of this natural disaster and Pasadena Humane Society’s response efforts in helping the most vulnerable in our community, the animals.
During the Eaton Fire, the Pasadena Humane Society coordinated with Cal Fire, the main organization which oversees fire response. Through consistent communication, they were able to send special trained teams of animal control officers into areas which were off limits to the general public. Other officers rescued animals from peoples’ homes, administered necessary medical attention, and brought them to the shelter. Since the emergency, the Pasadena Humane Society has taken in over 1,200 animals, 550 of which belonged to families who had to evacuate.
However, the safety of the pets wasn’t the only goal. McManus believes that the top challenge from the aftermath of the Eaton fire was the reunification of pets with their owners. He emphasizes the importance of identification on pets, whether it be a collar tag or microchip. To mitigate this challenge, the Pasadena Humane posted on social media, hung flyers around the community, and posted images of pets on their website.
Additionally, foster families were an incredible asset to the Pasadena Humane Society. Due to the amount of manpower required to care for the high number of animals, operations including adoptions had to be temporarily shut down. The foster families willingness to step up and provide temporary homes for animals in need helped gain the resources that ensured that pets continued to receive care. More recently, adoptions officially reopened. Fortunately, the community’s response has been overwhelmingly positive, with 30 adoptions on the first day and 77 by the end of the week.
In the course of the fires, wild animals were forced into urban areas in search of food and shelter. McManus explains that while wildlife is extremely resilient, it will take years for their ecosystems to recover, which may lead to an increase in human-animal encounters. The Pasadena Humane used their resources to help these animals by treating displaced wildlife, including bobcats– one suffering from burned paw pads and another injured after being hit by a car as it tried to escape from the fire. These incidents highlight the unique challenges that wild animals face when having to escape from their natural habitats and have human-animal interactions. He warns us that as our environment heals, the community must remain mindful and cautious of these animals, understanding their situation.
Despite the dramatic uptick of animals in need, the Humane Society has found an abundance of support from the residents in the greater Pasadena area. Because of so many inquiries about volunteering the first week of the fire, Pasadena Humane was forced to shut down its website! However, to the students interested in volunteering at the Pasadena Humane, McManus has one piece of advice: absolutely do it. The Pasadena Humane’s student volunteers are vital to its ability to function and sustain the animals, and the presence of humans gives the animals an idea of what a home might look like. For McManus, volunteering at this organization was the start of a great career.
Despite the tragedies following the Eaton fire, hope can be found in the Pasadena Humane as they “LICK” the community’s wounds and guide society on the journey of recovery. Alongside the Pasadena Humane’s work, the community is in the successful process of coming together through a united love for animals, slowly mending back the lost homes of these furry friends and reuniting them with their owners. The turmoil in recent times has made it more apparent than ever that the Pasadena Humane Society is the pillar of hope and service that it seeks to be — one LICK at a time.
