Two Chihuahuas, a chocolate lab and a cockatiel — those are the family members Linda Dillon packed in the car as she scrambled to get out of fire-threatened Healdsburg as the Kincade Fire raged in Sonoma County.
She had to leave her 15 doves behind in their aviary amid the panic of the town’s evacuation.
“I lost my medication, I didn’t get any clothes. I was too busy trying to wrap up the birds and trying to make sure I left food and water for them and cover them up because I didn’t want to let them go. It was just really, really scary,” said Dillon.
She later had to find a shelter that would allow her to bring in her four dogs and one small bird.
“I would have slept in my car to be with my pets. There was no way I was going to leave them alone; they are like my children,” said Dillon. “I’m a grandmother and everybody [in my family> is grown. I’m alone and [my pets> just bring me a lot of companionship.”
It’s not just people heading home in the #KincadeFire zone; it’s a whole lot of animals too. The Santa Rosa shelter was a menagerie of cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, goats, horses...Linda Dillon says her 4 dogs & a cockatiel got her through this crazy week. Her story on @KCBSRadio pic.twitter.com/cE15gPhKPg
— Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) October 31, 2019That is what her animals did for Dillion for six days, as she and a couple hundred other pet owners that had to evacuate the fire-stricken areas slept on cots surrounded by a menagerie housed in cages and carriers; and somehow, all animals and humans housed in the shelter managed to get along.
“We’re all doing good because we have the animals. They comfort us and the animals, they’re comforted by us,” said Dillion. “At first, everybody was all stressed out and everything, and so were the animals…but everything is good [now>.”
Things are looking even better for these folks and their pets with the evacuation order lifted, since they now all get to go home.
