California is in the midst of another round of firestorms. There are three fires destroying hundreds of thousands of acres and lives: the Camp Fire in Northern California, the Hill Fire in Malibu and the Woosley Fire in Venture and Northern Los Angeles Counties. The state is still reeling from the aftermath of the fires last December, as are our firefighters and first responders. The amount of loss is beyond comprehension. Outgoing governor, Jerry Brown, said of the crisis, “This is the new abnormal.” It’s tragic and painful and although I am truly lucky not to be physically affected by it, I am deeply emotionally affected and cannot properly express how sorry I am to any of you or yours that have been devastated in this disaster.
However, I will try my best to spread some more positive news to help us through this, starting with Sandra Bullock. The Humane Society of Ventura County announced yesterday that Sandra donated $100,000 to them directly to help with misplaced pets and animals.
Sandra Bullock has made a $100,000 donation to the Humane Society of Ventura County to help provide care for animals evacuated in the California wildfires.
In a heartfelt post on their Facebook page, the care shelter thanked the Oscar winner for her generosity and explained how her donation will help in the wildfire relief efforts. “The Humane Society of Ventura County was deeply humbled today by a $100,000 donation from Sandra Bullock and family,” the post reads. “Our efforts for rescuing and caring for evacuated animals from the Hill and Woolsey fires had caught her attention and her team reached out to the shelter to show their support.”
“Sandra Bullock and her family have reached out to other nonprofit organizations both during this incident and in the past,” the post continues. “However, this time she wanted to contribute to those on the frontline rescuing animals in peril and hope others will choose to do the same.”
Sandra has made several generous donations throughout her career. She does her research and pinpoints specifically where she wants her money to go. What some folks may not realize is exactly how fast these fires are whipping through these areas, especially with the aid of the Santa Ana Winds. If a pet gets spooked and bolts, there may not be time to go after it. In addition, people live in these areas so they can properly house large animals or numbers of animals. And those who have fled may not have a place that allows pets to stay. The shelters are bursting with new pets and some have had to find satellite locations. And when the fires are contained (God bless each and every person fighting them), these shelters will still be dealing with lost or misplaced animals for months to come. So a sizable donation such as Sandra’s will do a lot of good to an incredibly taxed facility.
I am so grateful to Sandra and everyone who has reached out to help, whether directly or by spreading news. Someone else who deserves credit is actor James Woods, who has turned his Twitter feed into a central location for fire information. James, who was on the East Coast when the fires started raging, created a series of hashtags to help spread information like missing persons and pets, pleas, tips and hotlines, Good Samaritans offering services or shelter and updates on those found and reunited. He directly assisted Alyssa Milano in getting her five horses evacuated. Say what you want about Californians being the land of Fruits and Nuts, but when the cards are down, there’s nothing flakey about us.
These fires are terrifying and devastating. Anyone looking for updates and info, @RealJamesWoods is posting a ton of helpful stuff. Thanks, James.
Praying for everyone involved. And to the @LAFD keep up the amazingly courageous and heroic work. Thank you!— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) November 12, 2018
Because her animals are in danger and she needs help. @Alyssa_Milano #SoCalFiresJamesWoods https://t.co/GFc66PGSal
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) November 9, 2018
How to help #CaliforniaFires pic.twitter.com/oPvoTdlsTQ
— urbanhorsedoc (@urbanhorsedoc) November 11, 2018
😳This woman escaped the flames after rescuing animals in Malibu #CaliforniaFires #wildfires #CaliforniaWildfires pic.twitter.com/7xa2bDR4JZ
— Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel) November 11, 2018
This #hero ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Stay safe everyone. God bless our first responders. They are the best! #CaliforniaFires pic.twitter.com/BFYW4RhlMy
— Pam Slay (@pamslay) November 11, 2018
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Twitter
I want to talk about the gum (eucalyptus) trees in California.
They’re native to Australia but lots of North and South American countries have used them as quick-growing forests instead of native species to bind the soil after gold rushes or logging. The problem is, they’re “thirsty” (screwing with the water table for humans and other vegetation) and drop huge amounts of leaf litter.
Here in Australia, our “bush” is designed to be completely burnt every seven years, minimum. Indigenous custodians of the land knew this and have been “burning off” during the cooler months for tens of thousands of years to mitigate catastrophic fires.
Could changing the choice of vegetation to something native to the area help prevent these almost yearly disasters in California?
Huge shout out to your first responders and- I can’t believe I’m saying this, but god bless him- James Woods.
I’m not Californian, but if i recall correctly, its similar. The landscape is arid and didn’t have as many greens until they brought the irrigation to make it greener. So it’s not it’s complete natural state.
Add in the higher population in the area and the houses that continue to go up and cut down on natural landscape.
If the winds are going I’m not sure you could do a “controlled” burn in many areas without risk to neighborhoods.
Are there are controlled burn offs? It’s not perfect but there are ways to create “fire breaks” around houses in the cooler months.
The cycles of bushfires here have shortened ridiculously, thanks to climate change. These “once in a decade” fires are now happening every two or three years and it’s not letting up.
There are CalFire grants the assist with planting the appropriate trees for the region. Part of it is to ensure they’re native to the region, drought tolerant, and to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. I’ve assisted with writing a couple of these grant applications.
You know sh*t is bad when even James Woods starts acting human.
This!
I hate him for making me say one nice thing about him.
Was thinking the exact same thing!
I would love to know who Sandra’s financial manager is. They are doing an excellent job! She always buying properties, she’s renting out her beach house in GA, and still has plenty left over for donations from $100,000 to $1,000,000 (MeToo campaign).
Anyone who loves and fights for the safety and well being of animals can win me over.
What infuriates me are those that have time to evacuate WITH their pets but choose to leave them behind. If you can gather your family members and bring them out safely, you can do the same for your pets… they are family members too!
If its totally not possible to take them, then leave a door or window open to give them a fighting chance.
These poor things must be so terrified and confused.
Yeah, that’s despicable. People like that shouldn’t have pets.
It boggles my mind that anyone could willingly leave without their pets. I want to believe that some people had no choice but…
To be fair, I think with horses and large livestock that could get VERY tricky in terms of transport but I see no reason why you couldn’t bring your cats and dogs with you.
@kitten Because most human emergency shelters will not accept pets due to folks w/allergies and no meds. Kitten, my heart hurts to hear you be so very judgmental. When you’re told: we will save you and your children but you cannot bring you dog/cat……hmmmmm……honestly, would you say no, go ahead, I’m bringing them come hell (fire) or high water? Or…here, take my terrified children, but I’m gonna stay here with my terrified dog/cat? You’re a bigger and better person than me if that’s the case. I always figured if push came to shove….I’d eat my dog before starving. I would use my dog to distract a grizzly or bobcat and get as far away as I could…please don’t judge another’s love for their pet/s. It hurts those who have been forced to make this choice.
If I couldn’t take my dog with me, then I’d leave this world right along with him.
I’d (a) sleep in my car or outside with my cats before I’d abandon them to stay at a shelter that wouldn’t take them, or (b) I’d keep going until I found a shelter that would take them.
Adopting my two furballs was a commitment to care for them and to protect them. I’m not going to abandon them when it gets difficult.
It may be judgmental, but I do judge people who abandon their pets as though they are things rather than family.
It does sound like Kitten is a better person than you but we all have our own priorities, Thirsty.
Seriously, why make this into a “What about the children?” situation when it isn’t necessary?
Username checks out.
Maybe I’m an absolute nutter, but I say ride your horse out if you’ve got plenty of time and no trailer (I realize its probably not that easy, but have been contemplating and wondering if something like that is possible).
@kitten
I totally agree with you and for all the people that would stay behind with their fur babies or sleep in a car just to have them with you, I agree with you as well. My cats are my babies and I would never make a choice to leave them behind.
Hmmm I don’t think horses would be easy to ride out in the middle of a firestorm, they’d be scared and very skittish. You’d be risking injury from a throw for sure.
I could never leave my animals to face this alone.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6383809/Heartbreaking-images-animals-injured-California-wildfires-killed-44.html
It is truly heartbreaking, for the people affected, yes, but also the animals, both domesticated and wild. I cannot imagine the terror all are going through.
Well, I have learned that even the worst person can do a good deed. I thank James for his good deed, but still do not think highly of him as a person overall.
This video of the woman driving through the fire in the tunnel is so truly shocking… oh my god I hope so much she got out there safe! Horrible scenario, I feel so sorry for everything and everybody involved!