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Volunteers Work To Reunite Hundreds Of Pets Lost In Camp Fire

BUTTE COUNTY(CBS13) — Shelters across northern California have been inundated with animals that survived the Camp Fire, now volunteers are trying to reunite pet owners.

One fire victim after another came searching, desperate to find their pets. "Come back tomorrow," the security guard told a man looking for his dog.

"I'm here looking for my other dog, Kona, she's 14 years old," said Nicole Phantom of Paradise. "She has trouble breathing as it is. I don't know she made it, but I want to be with her even if it's last moments of her life."

Phantom, like most everyone in Paradise, lost everything in the fire.

"When I got there my whole street was in flames," she said.

READ: Looters Scavenge Through Ruins Of Camp Fire, Six Arrests Made

Days later, everything around her home was charred, except for her 6-year-old dog named Oso.

"He had waited at the doorstep at my house and waited for me to come home," she said.

Oso apparently waited until rescuers picked up the dog. He's one of hundreds rescued from the raging inferno.

"He's having a hard time walking because the burns on his feet, but he's going to make it," she showed in a picture, paws bandaged up.

Pets housed all across the northwest in every breed and size.

"Everything I know was gone," said Mary Foster of Concow. "I have 12 other family members up there and their houses are gone too."

Foster saw the picture of her horse online, the only thing left now left from her childhood home.

"It was really good (to see him), but the next thing was, well is he ok?" Foster said. "He has burns on his stomach."

Among so much heartbreak there are now signs of survival.

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"Special delivery from Cal Fire," said a volunteer while carrying in a small kitty.

Volunteers from the North Valley Animal Disaster group scoured through the wreckage, hoping to bring healing to those who lost everything.

"It's a bad situation, it's sad outcome ... I guess the good news is that we are able to find a lot of animals," said volunteer Julie Atwood.

There are so many ways that you can help, through volunteer and donations.

Donations have been streaming in so much so that animal groups all across northern California are asking for cash donations at this time.

Contact to help or find your pet:

North Valley Animal Disaster Group
150 Air Park Blvd.
Chico, California
‭(530) 895-0000‬

Caring Choices
1398 Ridgewood Drive
Chico, California

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