LA Wildfire Rescue Dogs To Arrive In Salem For Adoption

SALEM, MA — Nine dogs rescued from the Los Angeles wildfires were expected to arrive in Salem on Friday night as the culmination of a weeks-long effort to bring the dogs cross-country and set them up for adoption in Massachusetts.

"Dealing with the logistical challenges is well worth it to bring these dogs — who were living in shelters prior to the fires — to Massachusetts, where we're confident they'll find the loving homes they deserve," Josie Waldron, MSPCA-Angell relocation manager, said. "But, doing so will further increase our own population of larger dogs, and we definitely need help."

The dog transport follows the rescue of more than three dozen cats from blizzard-stricken New Orleans in recent weeks.

• Dozens Of New Orleans Blizzard Rescue Cats Arrive In MA

"Cross-country flights are really expensive and hard to coordinate," Waldron explained. "The plane needs to be completely full, which is a huge number of animals — more than all shelters in Massachusetts and even New England could take in at once.

"So, we needed to find somewhere in the middle for the flight to land — in this case Delaware — where many shelters and organizations, including us, could rendezvous and split up the animals."

Best Friends Animal Society organized the flight with an MSPCA-Angell van then taking the dogs from Delaware to the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem.

The California dogs range in age from roughly 1 to 10 years old and include mixes of hounds, German shepherds, pit bulls, and cattle dogs and come from Pasadena Humane Society, where they had been living prior to the fires that have displaced thousands of people and pets.

"Obviously, there's a tremendous amount of need in the Los Angeles area right now," said Waldron. "Plenty of groups nearby stepped up to help and transported animals out of danger, but given the magnitude of the situation, more assistance is needed, and that's where we come in.

"Relief efforts in California will probably take weeks if not months, so it's likely that we'll have the opportunity to help even more animals in the future. But, in order for us to do that, we definitely need people to come in and adopt, so we can free up space to help these new arrivals, as well as those we hope to help in the future, both in California and here in Massachusetts."

The California dogs will be available for adoption following their state-mandated 48-hour quarantine and after receiving any medical care they may need. Interested adopters are asked to monitor the MSPCA-Angell's social media pages for updates.

Those who cannot adopt but who would be willing to foster the California dogs and others in MSPCA-Angell care can learn more about fostering here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)