By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

PASADENA, California (Reuters) – The pitbull mix arrived at Pasadena Humane covered in ash, his paw pads ulcerated from walking through fire debris, his lungs choked with smoke. A good Samaritan found the dog lying in the ruins of Altadena, wrapped him in a blanket and brought him to a shelter.

Still too weak to walk on Saturday, Canela was reunited with his owner — thanks to CNN’s coverage of the act of kindness. The injured pet continues to receive medical treatment and is one of more than 400 animals that have arrived at the Pasadena facility since the Southern California wildfires began on Tuesday.

Animal facilities, veterinarians and rescue organizations took in and helped dogs, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and other creatures displaced by the ongoing fire along with their pets. human owner.

The Humane Society began accepting animals as temporary shelters while families evacuated their homes. But the conditions improved, with the disaster spreading, which left 13 people dead, burned 39,000 hectares and forced at least 153,000 people to leave their homes.

“We’re now seeing a lot of injured animals coming in,” said Dia DuVernet, president and chief executive of Pasadena Humane. “We’re also starting to see people bringing their animals in for what we think is temporary shelter, but they don’t have shelters, and so it becomes a more high status of hiding.”

Some animals bear the scars of the test, such as a badly burned Husky with matted fur and burned feet.

“No one has come back to take him back,” said the humane society’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Maria Pyrdek, who added that the dog is showing gradual signs of recovery. “He didn’t even look up when he came in. He was completely exhausted.”

The organization is entering a new phase of disaster response, rescue and recovery efforts, DuVernet said. Pasadena Humane is fielding calls to help surviving animals in burn zones — including eight injured peacocks.

An Altadena man contacted the Humane Society for help getting water to a bull, cow and sheep he couldn’t reach because the fire destroyed a bridge.

“We’re planning how we’re going to get as much water in this ravine and on this hill, so these animals don’t die of dehydration,” DuVernet said.

Throughout the crisis, DuVernet said the community provided enough donations to fill five U-Haul trucks.

HORSE AND DONKEY REFUGE

In nearby Burbank, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center takes in about 400 animals, mostly horses but also some donkeys. Some were brought in by owners who evacuated their homes and others by law enforcement who found them on the run.

the Eaton (NYSE:) fire on the east side of Los Angeles hit a region filled with horse lovers.

“People have horses in their yards in these neighborhoods,” said Leigh Anne Claywell, general manager of the equestrian center. “It’s been a horsey area for a long time. It’s kind of where the Hollywood Western was born, because of all the cowboys and ranches that were in this area.

Some of the evacuated horses appeared stressed when they arrived in their new environment, Claywell said, “but for the most part, everyone seemed to have kind of stumbled into a routine.”

On Saturday, many volunteers helped walk and feed the horses and clean the yard. The center was flooded with donations of apples and carrots for the animals and pizza and sandwiches for the people. Smoke can be seen from the Palisades fire to the west and the Eaton fire to the east.

At one point, all the stalls in the center were filled. Spaces were opened as some evacuation orders were lifted and owners were able to retrieve their animals.

Karrie Saydah took her two donkeys and two horses to the shelter when she was forced to evacuate her home at 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday.

“It was very scary, a fire in the sky kind of thing,” said Saydah.

Saydah borrowed a horse trailer from a neighbor and drove to a place near the Rose Bowl only to find it was full. After finding space for his horses at the equestrian center, he returned for the donkeys.

He thanked the staff and volunteers and said his animals would likely lose their large supply of food.

“There was a lot of help and a lot of goodwill being shared,” Saydah said.