Rocky Mountain K9 brings in rescue dogs affected by California wildfires

Early Friday morning, Park City boarding facility, Rocky Mountain K9 welcomed 25 new dogs coming from overwhelmed shelters in wildfire-plagued Los Angeles.

As of Thursday evening, over 170,000 people are still under evacuation orders in the crisis zone of the Palisades and Eaton fires. Many more have suffered devastating losses, and with warning of strong winds in the coming week, the concerns for more damage still looms.

The boarding facility is one of many organizations from neighboring states that have stepped up to assist the animal shelters in Los Angeles, which have been overwhelmed by an influx of displaced animals.

“It’s been a lot of trial and error. We kind of all moved really quickly and had to go through a lot of bureaucracy to get this to even happen,” said David Kitchen, owner of Rocky Mountain K9. “We drove in (Wednesday) night, with some soft approvals, but we needed to get it done, so we came anyway, and they gave us the final approvals late (Wednesday) night.”

Staff members of Rocky Mountain K9 roll into the parking lot with a trailer loaded with 25 dogs and supplies for the trip on Friday morning around 9:30. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record

Kitchen made the trip to Los Angeles with five staff members Wednesday while others stayed back to prepare the facility for the rescue’s arrival.

Rikki Silhavy, Park City kennel and marketing manager at the facility, explained that they recently had a large quantity of puppies surrendered to them and they were able to find most of them permanent homes within a day.

“So we’re just trying to take on some of those dogs that have nowhere to go and help them find homes as quickly as possible,” she said.

Over the past 72 hours, hundreds of community members have reached out to the facility to offer support in a variety of ways.

“We let our clients know we were going to the shelters over there, and they dropped off and donated a ton of dog carriers and crates to let us borrow to go over there,” said Silhavy.

“Even at our Ogden and Grantsville locations, people are stepping up and helping out,” said Kitchen. “So that’s what really gave us the boost to say, ‘Okay, you know what? We’re going to take as many dogs as they’ll give us and what would fit inside of our transport vehicle.’”

Silhavy expressed gratitude for the support they have received thus far from the community, noting the need for continuous support in caring for the dogs in the coming weeks, until they can be placed in permanent homes.

“We’re obviously not shelters, and we don’t know the first thing when it comes to rehoming dogs,” said Kitchen. “But what we do have is the will, and we’re going to make sure that they have really good care, and we’re going to help them find good homes.”

A slow season for the boarding facility so far contributed to their ability to take in more dogs at this time.

It has been a unique year in our town, said Kitchen. “January, historically, is a pretty low month for our boarding clients. Everybody’s getting over Christmas, and they’re going back to their normal routines and whatnot,” said Kitchen. “But we really bank on the skiers, right? And because of the strike this year, we’ve been virtually empty for a minute. Skiers haven’t been skiing, so we don’t have as many daycare dogs taking over those spots of those boarding dogs, so we were kind of in a really unique position to be able to assist with the LA fires, and … the incoming displaced dogs.”

As the search for permanent homes for the newly arrived canines begins, the facility is open to as much help as it can get. Food donations are being taken at any time, and the facility welcomes all who would like to lend a hand in any way to drop by. Depending on how quickly homes can be found for the dogs, they will plan on making a second trip to help more of them, said Silhavy.

“We are glad we can help and (also) give people in our community an easier way to help with what’s going on over there,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know how they can help from Utah — this could be one of those ways.”

The Rocky Mountain K9 facility is at 1005 Beehive Drive in Park City.
For more information about volunteering, fostering or adoption the facility can be reached via email at [email protected].

David Kitchen leads in a timid dog to the indoor kennels on Friday morning. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record

Rocky Mountain K9 brings in rescue dogs affected by California wildfires

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