Rescue team struggles to save evacuees’ pets, livestock amid Okanagan wildfires

A dedicated volunteer team is actively helping evacuees from the devastating wildfires in the Okanagan with their pets and livestock, providing them with food and crates, and finding foster homes for them, but with so much local fire activity, they are struggling to keep up.

Volunteers with ALERT Canada, or the Animal Lifeline Emergency Response Team, are responding to the Quilpituk Creek wildfire on Westside Road, the Bald Range fire in the South Okanagan and the Bradley Creek wildfire in the North Okanagan.

ALERT president Daryl Meyers made time for a brief phone interview from her location at a reception centre in Penticton, with the sounds of commotion and dogs barking in the background.

“It’s very busy and the volunteers are running nonstop,” she said. “Because we have fires in Vernon, the Central Okanagan and in Peachland and the highway is closed, our team is separated. We have half our group up the valley and half our group down here.”

Meyers wasn’t able to provide an estimate of the number of animals retrieved from evacuated properties in the Okanagan since the fires sparked up, but more than 250 individual property owners evacuated from the Bald Range fire have requested help with many more on a waiting list.

Formed in 1994 to rescue animals in all natural or man-made disasters, the ALERT team works with local authorities and emergency officials to access evacuation zones to retrieve animals or feed animals sheltering in place. They rescue all animals including fish, lizards, spiders and birds, and over the years have assisted in the communities throughout the Okanagan.

There aren’t enough volunteers to meet the current demand, but the ones working are working overtime.

“A lot of people want to volunteer for us right now but they can’t because they have to be trained,” Meyers said. “That’s the thing, volunteers are completely trained, we can’t just take more on last minute.

“Our volunteers are running on very little sleep, they show up every day eager to help and I have to yell at some of them to go home for a break. I’m just so grateful to each and every one of them.”

Part of what the team does is find temporary foster homes for displaced animals, and more fosters are needed.

“We’re trying to get the animals out of the houses and if people can’t take them, they want them in foster homes. We can always use more fosters,” Meyers said.

The registered charity is 100% volunteer based and all funding comes from donations for supplies and medical treatment for injured animals.

“We need to buy hay and oats and all kinds of food for animals, and gas for our volunteers who are using their own vehicles to go out,” she said.

ALERT reception centers are set up in Penticton at 273 Power Street and in West Kelowna at 3466 Main Street. Anyone needing supplies for their animals is encouraged to stop in.

Learn more about ALERT, request support or make a donation by going here.