Dear Animal Acres Members,
As many of you have heard, Acton, CA, is one of the areas affected by the enormous Los AngelesForest fire. While the fire is still several miles away, we have decided to plan for the worst, and hope for the best – and as we send you this notice, we have begun evacuating the sanctuary animals. At this time, we have a team of volunteers at the sanctuary assisting us, as well as people at our evacuation site. Many dedicated “helping hands” have come to our rescue both to help us prepare, and respond immediately.
Thanks to your generous donations and support, we have been preparing for emergency evacuation needs since 2007, the last severe fire storms in Southern California. We were able to construct an EVACUATION CENTER for our animals, purchase an additional animal transport trailer, and construct fencing and chutes needed at the sanctuary to quickly remove animals. In summary, we are as prepared as humanly possible, and we cannot thank you enough for being such an important part of this lifesaving effort.
We are also thinking of the millions of other animals and people affected by this fire storm, and as soon as the Animal Acres animals and people are safely relocated, we will begin assisting with other animal evacuation needs. The Los Angeles Times has just interviewed us for a story on the situation, and we have asked them to include our contact information to assist other animals in need. If you can help, please email us.
I also wanted to give you an update on our upcoming Gala benefit scheduled for this Saturday, September 5th. At this time, all reports are indicating that the fire may not be under control for another 7 – 10 days. We are currently looking for a Los Angeles venue to hold the Gala at as an option (though it is extremely difficult to find a suitable and affordable venue so close to the event) and if this option is not available, and the fire is not contained by this Wednesday, we regrettably, will need to postpone the Gala. We will be sending another email to everyone on Wednesday with the update, and of course, any other updates if the situation worsens.
Thank you for all your calls – I know you understand we cannot return calls at this time – but I want you to know how much we appreciate being in your thoughts. Thank you and much love from ALL of us at Animal Acres.
Lorri Houston, President – http://www.animalacres.org/