Over 80 Shelter Pets Flown Out of Los Angeles to Safety in Emergency Rescue Flight amid Wildfires

Mar. 15, 2025

More Than 80 Pets Flown Out of Los Angeles In Emergency Rescue Flight amid Wildfires.Photo:Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends Animal Society

More than 80 pets boarded emergency rescue flights out of Los Angeles this week amid the raging wildfires — and they’re now safe and adoptable.

On Saturday, Jan. 11, theBest Friends Animal Societyshared a press release detailing how 84 pets — including 58 cats and 26 dogs — made their way to Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles County from animal shelters around the area.

Pets getting ready to depart from Burbank Hollywood Airport.Best Friends Animal Society

“In the rush to evacuate a disaster such as the Palisades and Eaton fires, often pets can escape or become separated from their owners,” Best Friends writes in its press release. “It then becomes the work of first responders and shelter workers to find and secure these lost pets until they can be reunited with their owners.”

Cats and dogs arrive in Utah.Best Friends Animal Society

The charity organizationWings of Rescue— which helps to fly pets from shelters, disaster areas and other dangerous circumstances to safety — provided the transportation using its twin-engine turboprop plane. After all 84 crates had been loaded onto the plane, the pets were off to Utah.

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A veterinarian checks out a cat before it’s taken to Best Friends Animal Society.Best Friends Animal Society

For those with their own pets still in Los Angeles, Best Friends also shared that it has opened up two “pet pantries” to help pet owners feed their furry friends amid the still-raging wildfires.Per the sanctuary’s website, pet owners can find these pantries at Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in West L.A. and the Best Friends Clinic in Granada Hills.

Thedestructive Palisades firefirst began in the L.A. neighborhood of Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, and has since burned more than 23,700 acres with 11% containment, according to theLos Angeles County Fire Department. On the other side of L.A. County, the Eaton fire also began on Jan. 7 and has already burned more than 14,000 acres. Additional fires have since sprung up in the Southern California area.

Click hereto learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.

source: people.com