Central California Animal Disaster Team keeps busy during wildfires

The Central CA Animal Disaster Team – Kern County Division has kept busy this summer caring for animals displaced by wildfires.

During Kern County’s Stagecoach fire in August, CCADT volunteers from Tehachapi, in coordination with Kern County Animal Services and the Red Cross, established an emergency small animal shelter in Tehachapi in support of the Stagecoach Fire evacuations.

Also, in August, two Tehachapi CCADT volunteers responded to a request for assistance at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo. They spent several days caring for large animals and livestock that had been displaced by the LNU

Complex Fires.

More recently, seven CCADT volunteers from Tehachapi traveled to the Clovis Rodeo Grounds and the Fresno County Fairgrounds to care for horses, cattle, and other livestock dis

placed by the massive Creek Fire. Over the course of two weeks, working around the clock, these seven volunteers worked 729 hours to keep these animals safe and well cared for. Using the most recent California average volunteer value rate of $29.95 per hour, these volunteers contributed more than $21,833 in services during their Fresno County deployments in coordination with the Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner.

Founded in 2011, the Central CA Animal Disaster Team is a regional 501©3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Fresno that is staffed entirely by volunteers. For additional information on the CCADT, contact Debi Geary, Kern County division director, at 949-291-0551, debigeary@ ccadt.org, or Naomi Tobias, Founder/CEO at 559-4339663, naomitobias@ccadt. org or visit our website at CCADT.ORG.

COURTESY OF JEFF KERMODE Members of the CCADT — Kern County Division.

COURTESY OF JEFF KERMODE These burros were among animals rescued.