David Crawford is fundraising
LA reminds us: It Is Past Time for a Pet Evacuation App
Animal Help Now is a nonprofit that creates lifesaving apps for animals. We created a pet evacuation app - Pet Help & Rescue - after Colorado's Marshall Fire, which took the lives of more than a thousand dogs, cats and other beloved animal companions. We lost our headquarters and our executive director's home in the fire, but our director helped rescue Chief, a German shepherd who was home alone in a crate in a neighboring residence as the fire approached.
Caption: With the fire fast approaching, Mike kicked in the door to save Chief's life.
The experience led to the creation of our pet evacuation app, which is based on the principle that neighbors who are home when disasters strike are the best bet for evacuating neighborhood animals who are home alone.
We are more than heartbroken at the loss of lives in the LA fires. We are also angry.
In July of 2024 we released a FREE lifesaving pet evacuation app covering the entire United States. Pet Help & Rescue is a neighbors-based messaging app for evacuating animals who are home alone when disasters strike.
Why are we angry? Because in our attempts to raise awareness of our apps, we have been met with resistance every step of the way. For whatever reason, the media (with few exceptions, see https://ahnow.org/news.php) hasn't picked up the story. And the country's big animal advocacy organizations, awash in their own financial self interests, have refused to help us spread the word.
Animals are dying horrific deaths needlessly in Los Angeles right now simply because the public is not yet aware of our pet evacuation app.
Caption: Chief at the memorial to the pets lost in the Marshall Fire.
This GoFundMe IS NOT to raise funds for animal rescues, animal sanctuaries or animal shelters.
This GoFundMe IS NOT to raise money for high-overhead animal groups that send in rescue teams.
This GoFundMe IS NOT for memorials to lost pets or veterinary expenses for survivors.
This GoFundMe IS to fund outreach efforts to get Pet Help & Rescue on as many phones as possible, so that when disasters strike there is less need for shelter services, less need for rescue teams and most importantly fewer deaths of dogs and cats and other household animals, and by extension less grief resulting from the loss of loved ones.
Pet Help & Rescue has revolutionized pet disaster preparedness and response. Your support will help get the word out on it. Because another disaster will be on our doorsteps before we know it.
Caption: Chief barked when our co-founder and executive director, Dave Crawford, knocked on the door to alert his neighbor to the evacuation. The neighbor wasn't home, so Dave connected with another neighbor to make sure Chief was evacuated if the neighbor didn't come home. Here, Dave and Chief see each other for the first time following the fire.
*Testimonials*
The Pet Help & Rescue application is such a benefit to our community. Keeping our pets safe is a priority. PHaR provides a service that allows neighbors to support each other like never before when disasters threaten and strike.
Kiana Freeman, Recovery & Resilience Manager
City of Louisville, Colorado
As a veterinarian working in the disaster space, I am grateful to see this app come online. PHaR will save lives. And it arrives at a crucial time, as disaster preparedness, response, and recovery increasingly encompass pets and other animals. Neighbors helping neighbors can help keep all our pets safe.
Casara Andre, DVM
Front Range Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps, Colorado
With disasters increasing in frequency and severity, the PHaR app promises to save thousands of lives of our beloved animal companions.
Leslie Irvine, PhD
Professor of Sociology
Director, Animals and Society Certificate Program
University of Colorado Boulder
Author of Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters
I’m so grateful for PHaR. I can’t imagine a more important app on my phone.
Mike Neustedter
Superior, CO
Mike lost his cat in the Marshall Fire
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