Santa Fe Animal Shelter: Disaster Response and Recovery Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

In May of this year, New Mexico suffered from some of the worst and most destructive wildfires in its history, the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires being the largest. Hundreds of thousands of acres burned and thousands of residents were displaced from their homes, including pet guardians with little to no access to pet resources.

As the largest and closest shelter to the areas of impact, the Santa Fe Animal Shelter assisted with a number of fire efforts, including the boarding, care, and rehoming of animals displaced from families and evacuated shelters.

Funding from the Petfinder Foundation helped our organization with increased operational costs associated with the intake of nearly 50 animals from areas affected by the wildfires, many of whom broke with parvovirus shortly after intake, forcing us to turn an area typically reserved for kenneling into an isolation ward to prevent further spread of the virus.

How many pets did this grant help?

50

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

One specific pet who was helped by this grant was a dog named Phoenix.

The amazing and resilient Phoenix went home with Rocky and Alissa (first photo), who came in to meet with him after hearing about his story. According to the pair, it was a fated meeting: Just before adopting Phoenix, they’d rescued a horse who was displaced by the same wildfire and who was also named Phoenix.

When Rocky and Alissa learned that there was a dog available at SFAS with the same name who had been evacuated from the same area, they knew it was a sign. Thanks to help from the Petfinder Foundation, Phoenix is now happily settled in his forever home.

Included in our report is a photo of Phoenix, along with photos taken of the evacuation efforts.