How Wings of Rescue is helping rescue animals displaced in LA fires

Wings of Rescue, an organization that flies pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster-stricken regions, has been a go-to in responding to the animal crisis caused by fires in Los Angeles. These fires have put pets and their owners in a precarious state, causing displacement and pressure on shelters reaching a high demand level.

Wildfires that have hit Southern California have been regarded among the worst in the region’s history, as many pets find themselves in a homeless, lost, or injured state. As local shelters are filled with deserted pets, the demand for the action intensifies.

Wings of Rescue, in collaboration with many animal welfare organizations, has coordinated numbers of rescue flights that will move the animals from these shelters to safer grounds where some will be welcomed to stay until their families reunite with them, and others will get new homes.

Wings of Rescue has teamed up with different organizations to increase their impact during the period of the crisis:

Paws for Life K9 Rescue: Working only in the rehabilitation and training of shelter animals, this SoCal-based rescue has been successful in helping sort out flights and moving pets from overly crowded shelters into less crowded facilities.

Best Friends Animal Society: They have enabled thousands of animals to step into their very large no-kill animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, which is one of the largest in the United States.

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Recent Wings of Rescue flights

Flight to Seattle: Wings of Rescue coordinated a flight on January 12, 2025, with over 60 animals being moved from shelters in Los Angeles to Seattle. This was one of the most crucial missions that would create space for the pets affected by the fire. The flight had 39 dogs and 18 cats, which were received by Seattle Humane and other local rescue groups.

Alison Waszmer, the director of animal care at Seattle Humane, told Komo News:

"We’ll get them fed, tucked in for the night and tomorrow we’ll get them medical exams and get to know them. We were able to say ‘how can we help’, and everybody jumped into action and here we are.”

Flight to Utah: One of the critical operations included transporting 84 pets—58 cats and 26 dogs—from Burbank to Best Friends Animal Society's sanctuary in Utah. This was undertaken to alleviate overcrowded conditions in local shelters and provide a safe haven for these animals.

Best Friends stated in its press release:

"In the rush to evacuate a disaster such as the Palisades and Eaton fires, often pets can escape or become separated from their owners. It then becomes the work of first responders and shelter workers to find and secure these lost pets until they can be reunited with their owners."

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The process of rescue and relocation

Wings of Rescue employs big, pro-pressurized planes that are particularly suited for the safe transportation of animals. It has boasted of rescuing over 75,000 pets since its establishment in 2012, as estimated by Spectrum News 1.

With such aircraft, they guarantee that the animals are transported in the right environment –temperature and safety to enable the animals to arrive at the centers fit to be cared for.

Once the animals arrive at their destinations, they receive veterinary checks and get ready for adoption. This serves to immediately provide relief while further helping animals by raising the number of adoptions in better resource places.

The flights that Wings of Rescue organizes are funded through donations from a number of funds, including the Cencora Impact Fund, which assists with the expenses related to the rescue flights.

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Update on California fires

The officials quoted by CBS News estimate there is a death toll of 24, and over 12,000 structures have been burnt by the wildfire in Los Angeles, including the Palisades and Eaton fires, as of January 14, 2025.

As many as 80,000 people have been urged to leave their homes as the fires have burned what is estimated to be around 60 square kilometers.