Almeda Fire Cat Rescue & Reunification Efforts
Donation protected
On September 8, 2020, two fires ripped through Jackson County, Oregon, destroying over 3000 structures and burning over 35,000 acres. In the panic and with little or no notice to evacuate, many people were unable to evacuate with their pets, resulting in hundreds of displaced animals. The morning after the fire began, I immediately set to work organizing information & creating a social media network for rescuers and fire survivors to help reunite displaced animals with their people. Some may recognize my Facebook group, Almeda & Obenchain Lost and Found Animals (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1207768899597028 ), which serves as an organized listing place for lost, found, and sighted animals in the fire zones. I've spent countless hours keeping this group up to date, merging lost animal reports from social media and from the county animal services, and "matching" cats in particular by comparing photos of those lost with those found or sighted. But I am also active "boots on the ground", in particular focusing on trapping cats that others have been unable to catch.
You might think that 5 months after the fire, in February 2021, that there's not much rescue work left to do on the ground, but that is simply not the case. I still have a list of more than 400 cats that are missing. There are still cameras and feeding stations out. And I am still trapping and helping cats & families in need. I trapped the kitty below (also pictured in the cover photo) in Talent on February 6. This kitty clearly survived the fire, evidenced by the burn scars on her ears & paws and her traumatized behavior. I have an initial vet appointment scheduled for Friday, Feb 12, with an estimate of $222 (and this does not include spay/neuter, which will be scheduled at a later date if needed). I provide full veterinary care for any animal that I have trapped.
I am not affiliated with a non-profit organization, nor do I receive donations for the work that I do. In addition to more than $570 in vet bills (including the estimate for Friday's), I have spent $590 for trapping & camera equipment, and that doesn't even begin to touch the costs for batteries, food, litter (hundreds of dollars). Or vehicle expenses (more than $1000). Did I mentioned that I live 70 miles away from either burn zone in Jackson County? My current camera checking route includes 169 miles of driving round-trip. I make that round weekly, if not multiple times a week. To give you some perspective, I've put over 5000 miles on my car in the last several months despite working from home and having no commute. My vehicle is fast approaching the 200k mile marker. It is now time that I must ask for support in order to continue doing rescue work for the fires. Because there is still more work to be done.
My funding goals:
My primary goals with this fundraiser are 1) to put a dent in the vet bills I've racked up on my credit card, 2) purchase additional trail cameras (in particular solar-powered cellular cameras to cut down on battery expenses and driving), and 3) to build & pilot a raccoon-proof feeding platform (and more if the first is successful). As I mentioned, feeding stations are still up and running. These stations, paired with trail cameras, are absolutely critical to reuniting displaced pets. Unfortunately, raccoons have figured out that there's a free meal and a lot of cat food gets gobbled up by them. Many park managers are also not happy about the wildlife & rodents attracted to the food and some have asked that feeding stations be removed as a result. Feeders are exhausted by the need to visit and refill food daily or every other day. The solution? About $150 worth of materials from the hardware store:
The back-story:
My on-the-ground work started with a cat named Johnny Cakes, lost during the Obenchain fire. His home and the surrounding properties burned to the ground and his owner didn't think he made it. I set up trail cameras and a feeding station on the property in late September, and he showed up on camera several days later. I set out to trap him. But Johnny Cakes was smart--too smart. He went into my trap but managed to break out of it almost immediately. I spent the next month and a half trying to trap Johnny Cakes, spending up to 12 hours at a time during freezing nights sitting in my car on the property, driving home on an icy mountain highway as the sun was rising. Even when I got home it was hard to sleep when I thought about the coyotes I heard yipping out there and the bobcat that casually walked by, or raccoons and skunks Johnny had to compete with food for nightly. I finally out-smarted him when I converted the tote he was feeding out of into a homemade remotely triggered trap. After 80 days in the burn zone, Johnny Cakes finally got to sleep in a warm home with his temporary foster, and in January he was finally able to be reunited with his momma when she found pet-friendly housing.
From then on, I set out to trap the trap-smart cats, the ones that had been eluding dedicated trappers for months in the Almeda fire zone. Rubeus had been sighted shortly after the fire near the rubble of her home. A team had been trying to trap her every weekend for months, to no avail. Even the infamous "Fire Cat Guy" (Shannon Jay) was unable to trap her. In December, after locating her with the help of some local feeders & camera operators, I set up to trap Rubeus. Several nights later she was at her new home with her family, sleeping in a warm bed for the first time in 97 days.
Captain was another cat that had been sighted shortly after the fire but that had eluded trappers. Despite feeding in his burned out mobile park every night, he had no interest in going into a trap. After reuniting Rubeus, I set out after Captain. Captain finally got to see his human again after 120 days of living in the rubble.
The two beauties below were trapped together while looking for one of several missing black cats lost from the burned out neighborhood they were found in. He had also been avoiding traps for several months. Unfortunately the black cat ended up not being any of the missing cats, but he got to go home with his family, and he can now be identified by a microchip plus his baby-making days are over (which the family was quite grateful for). The orange girl turned out to be feral, but she got the full veterinary suite thanks to SNYP and her dedicated foster is currently working to socialize her.
The bills:
Of course, with each of the rescues above came a slough of expenses. Here are the vet bills I've seen over the last two months:
If you can find it in your heart to donate towards these fire cat rescue-related expenses & goals, or if you can share this fundraiser, then I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's too early to quit and these families who have lost everything need hope now as much as they ever.
You might think that 5 months after the fire, in February 2021, that there's not much rescue work left to do on the ground, but that is simply not the case. I still have a list of more than 400 cats that are missing. There are still cameras and feeding stations out. And I am still trapping and helping cats & families in need. I trapped the kitty below (also pictured in the cover photo) in Talent on February 6. This kitty clearly survived the fire, evidenced by the burn scars on her ears & paws and her traumatized behavior. I have an initial vet appointment scheduled for Friday, Feb 12, with an estimate of $222 (and this does not include spay/neuter, which will be scheduled at a later date if needed). I provide full veterinary care for any animal that I have trapped.
I am not affiliated with a non-profit organization, nor do I receive donations for the work that I do. In addition to more than $570 in vet bills (including the estimate for Friday's), I have spent $590 for trapping & camera equipment, and that doesn't even begin to touch the costs for batteries, food, litter (hundreds of dollars). Or vehicle expenses (more than $1000). Did I mentioned that I live 70 miles away from either burn zone in Jackson County? My current camera checking route includes 169 miles of driving round-trip. I make that round weekly, if not multiple times a week. To give you some perspective, I've put over 5000 miles on my car in the last several months despite working from home and having no commute. My vehicle is fast approaching the 200k mile marker. It is now time that I must ask for support in order to continue doing rescue work for the fires. Because there is still more work to be done.
My funding goals:
My primary goals with this fundraiser are 1) to put a dent in the vet bills I've racked up on my credit card, 2) purchase additional trail cameras (in particular solar-powered cellular cameras to cut down on battery expenses and driving), and 3) to build & pilot a raccoon-proof feeding platform (and more if the first is successful). As I mentioned, feeding stations are still up and running. These stations, paired with trail cameras, are absolutely critical to reuniting displaced pets. Unfortunately, raccoons have figured out that there's a free meal and a lot of cat food gets gobbled up by them. Many park managers are also not happy about the wildlife & rodents attracted to the food and some have asked that feeding stations be removed as a result. Feeders are exhausted by the need to visit and refill food daily or every other day. The solution? About $150 worth of materials from the hardware store:
The back-story:
My on-the-ground work started with a cat named Johnny Cakes, lost during the Obenchain fire. His home and the surrounding properties burned to the ground and his owner didn't think he made it. I set up trail cameras and a feeding station on the property in late September, and he showed up on camera several days later. I set out to trap him. But Johnny Cakes was smart--too smart. He went into my trap but managed to break out of it almost immediately. I spent the next month and a half trying to trap Johnny Cakes, spending up to 12 hours at a time during freezing nights sitting in my car on the property, driving home on an icy mountain highway as the sun was rising. Even when I got home it was hard to sleep when I thought about the coyotes I heard yipping out there and the bobcat that casually walked by, or raccoons and skunks Johnny had to compete with food for nightly. I finally out-smarted him when I converted the tote he was feeding out of into a homemade remotely triggered trap. After 80 days in the burn zone, Johnny Cakes finally got to sleep in a warm home with his temporary foster, and in January he was finally able to be reunited with his momma when she found pet-friendly housing.
From then on, I set out to trap the trap-smart cats, the ones that had been eluding dedicated trappers for months in the Almeda fire zone. Rubeus had been sighted shortly after the fire near the rubble of her home. A team had been trying to trap her every weekend for months, to no avail. Even the infamous "Fire Cat Guy" (Shannon Jay) was unable to trap her. In December, after locating her with the help of some local feeders & camera operators, I set up to trap Rubeus. Several nights later she was at her new home with her family, sleeping in a warm bed for the first time in 97 days.
Captain was another cat that had been sighted shortly after the fire but that had eluded trappers. Despite feeding in his burned out mobile park every night, he had no interest in going into a trap. After reuniting Rubeus, I set out after Captain. Captain finally got to see his human again after 120 days of living in the rubble.
The two beauties below were trapped together while looking for one of several missing black cats lost from the burned out neighborhood they were found in. He had also been avoiding traps for several months. Unfortunately the black cat ended up not being any of the missing cats, but he got to go home with his family, and he can now be identified by a microchip plus his baby-making days are over (which the family was quite grateful for). The orange girl turned out to be feral, but she got the full veterinary suite thanks to SNYP and her dedicated foster is currently working to socialize her.
The bills:
Of course, with each of the rescues above came a slough of expenses. Here are the vet bills I've seen over the last two months:
If you can find it in your heart to donate towards these fire cat rescue-related expenses & goals, or if you can share this fundraiser, then I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's too early to quit and these families who have lost everything need hope now as much as they ever.
Organizer
Caylen Kelsey
Organizer
Klamath Falls, OR
