Rocky Mountain K9 staff drove 10 hours to Los Angeles Wednesday to pick up dogs impacted by wildfires. Owner David Kitchen said he made the trip with the help of a local nonprofit.
His organization works closely with Mountain Mama Pyrs and Pups, a rescue for Great Pyrenees dogs based in Midway. Through connections in California, the director and founder of the rescue heard shelters there needed help; they were running out of space due to the wildfires.
Kitchen said many families have left their dogs in the care of shelters temporarily or have had to surrender their pets.
“They just needed a place while they sort their life out,” he said. “And the problem was that [the shelters] are expecting hundreds and hundreds of more dogs over the coming weeks and so any dog that’s not affected by fires, or just simply a surrender or a stray found, they want to get them out of there as fast as possible to make room.”
Kitchen said his business worked with the nonprofit Mountain Mamas to get approvals to pick up the dogs. He said the stars aligned for the trip; January is normally slower for the business and he said the Park City Mountain ski patrol strike added to the lull.
“No one was skiing, so no one was sending their dog to daycare, and so it was a great opportunity,” Kitchen said.
Intending to rescue 40 dogs, Kitchen and his team loaded kennels into a trailer and headed to LA County Wednesday afternoon. He said they hadn’t received official approvals, but the window was closing to pick up the dogs.
“We just decided to leave and hope for the best and Thursday, we got the approval,” Kitchen said.
The team headed to the first shelter that morning and spent six hours transferring 15 dogs into kennels and out of the Downey Animal Care Center’s system. They then picked up another 10 dogs at another shelter 45 minutes away. A few dogs were surrendered to the shelter when Kitchen and his team were there, so they took them as well.
“We were kind of anticipating there to be, just like hundreds and hundreds of dogs to grab, but the world’s kind of stepped up and taking care of it,” He said. “They’re in pretty good shape right now, but the problem is that every day, they’re getting more people that are bringing their dogs in for temporary housing.”
Kitchen said he and his team will make another trip to rescue more dogs in LA in the coming weeks.
After arriving back in Park City Friday morning, Kitchen said each dog went through a process to make sure they’re healthy. He said most of them are sweet and kind dogs he expects will find homes fast — up for adoption now. Kitchen’s staff will work with the few that need training and then they will be ready to find forever homes too.
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