Sacramento SPCA takes in puppies, other dogs to ease crowding at Dixie Fire-area pet shelter

A Sacramento animal shelter is lending a hand to relief efforts for the Dixie Fire by taking in dogs awaiting adoption in the town of Quincy.

The move, in turn, helps free space in Quincy for pets affected by the wildfire.

In recent years, the Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has helped transfer dogs from communities near major wildfires to Sacramento, increasing local-shelter capacity to take in animals as needed because of the fires.

On Saturday, Sacramento SPCA took in six dogs from a Quincy shelter and will house and care for them and put them up for adoption.

The Dixie Fire, which is burning just over 100 miles north of Sacramento, is California’s second largest blaze of all time. It has destroyed 1,120 buildings, 596 of which were residential.

Kenn Altine, the CEO of the Sacramento SPCA, told The Bee that when homes are burned in wildfires, owners frequently have to leave their pets at animal shelters while figuring out how to move forward. This puts a major strain on those shelters, many of which are quite small and have limited resources.

Sacramento SPCA’s goal is to make space for any new animals coming in. Altine has conducted such operations for the past four wildfire seasons.

“We realized several fires ago that one of the best services we can do here in Sacramento is to take these animals in who are not from the fire,” Altine said. “Because we just know that those shelters are going to fill up with strays from the disaster, or from people who need a safe place to put their animals for a few days while they try to put their worlds back together.”

On Thursday, Altine received word from the Plumas County Animal Shelter that they were overwhelmed with new animals from the Dixie Fire. Altine and other SPCA staff went to Quincy early Saturday. Among the dogs they brought back are two puppies.

As they were leaving the Quincy shelter, Altine said, they witnessed a man come by in search of a place to leave his four dogs after his home was destroyed by the fire. Because Sacramento SPCA had just cleared out space, the Quincy shelter was able to take in all four.

“He was so thankful that they had a place where they would just keep his dogs while he got his life back together,” Altine said. “But if we hadn’t taken six dogs out, that would have been six less spaces for other dogs in that situation. So that’s always our first job, see if we can get the animals who don’t belong to anyone out, and get them someplace else where they can find a home.”

Sacramento SPCA also brought medicine and pet food to the shelter in Quincy.

This story was originally published August 14, 2021 at 5:27 PM.