SAN DIEGO — Four emergency response team members from the San Diego Humane Society landed in Maui and hit the ground running, rescuing pets that survived the wildfires. The team quickly found a badly burned cat and took it to a field veterinary station for treatment.
"Primarily right now, it's going to be search and rescue," said Summer Piper, a San Diego Humane Society team member. She says they are starting their search on the edges of the burned areas, figuring those pets had the best chance of escaping the flames alive. "It's complete, and total devastation and destruction, so around the perimeters and the edges are going to be probably where we're finding a lot of the need,” she said. “It's not good.”
The San Diego volunteers are working with the Maui Humane Society, which released videos of other recently rescued animals. Some have been treated and reunited with owners, but others are in bad shape. “We have seen animals come through our shelter that has severe burns,” said Katie Shannon with the Maui Humane Society. “We have seen dogs that have essentially had their paws all the way burnt down to the bone from running from the fire.”
Pet owners have been posting photos of their missing animals on social media, hoping someone will spot them and help return them home. Others have shared pictures of found pets, hoping to locate the owners.
There are many missing pets, but the true number is unknown. "We don't even have a potential number of people - I wouldn't guess animals,” Piper said. “They haven't even reached 5 to 10 percent of the area we're searching, so it's a big unknown.”
Unlike hurricane response, where pets may be buried in debris, the fires in Maui left nothing standing. "There's just nothing. There's just nothing," Piper said. So surviving pets could be anywhere. The San Diego crew plans to stay in Maui for 8 to 10 days but will extend their work if needed.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego Humane Society deploys team to Maui to help with displaced animals