Maui residents had just minutes to flee from wildfires. Now they’re desperately searching for pets left behind
Animal shelters inundated with hundreds of animals who suffered burns and smoke inhalation, writes Bevan Hurley
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Your support makes all the difference.When wildfires swept through Lahaina without warning last Tuesday, residents were forced to grab what they could and flee.
At least 106 residents have been killed, more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed, and an estimated 1,000 people remain unaccounted for.
Hundreds of families who escaped the inferno have begun the desperate task of searching for pets that were left behind in the chaos.
Facebook groups have been inundated with photos of cats, dogs, rabbits, horses and exotic birds, and many remain missing nearly one week on from the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century.
“I am absolutely heartbroken,” one pet owner wrote on the Lost & Found Animals of Maui Fires group along with photos of her cats Lily Jupiter, Puma and Tiger.
“Please if there’s any chance they are alive and out there, I’m begging please help me find them… My heart hurts so much.”
“I’m missing my cats Gobi and Bear — couldn’t get them when I fled Lahaina,” another pet owner wrote. “My house is completely burned down. So worried.”
Thousands of Maui residents have responded by offering to help locate the missing pets or make financial contributions. Many have posted photographs of pets spotted roaming around the ashen remains of Lahaina.
Katie Shannon, of the Maui Humane Society, told The Independent that an estimated 3,000 pets are missing on Maui. Residents have filed 370 lost reports, and the shelter had taken in 52 animals by Monday, some with severe burns.
Among the agony and grief, extraordinary survival stories are also emerging.
Sarah Woods Willhour’s dogs Rocket, a Pomeranian, and Roman, a labrador, were with a dog sitter in Lahaina when the wildfires erupted.
The dog sitter’s only hope of survival was to jump into the ocean, one of dozens of Lahaina residents forced to try to shelter in the choppy seas, according to the Maui Humane Foundation.
Ms Woods Willhour only knew that Roman and Ricket ran off down the main waterfront street of Lahaina in the direction of the fires, and asked residents to “check in holes in rocks and other places” where the dogs could have holed up.
Roman was found two days later by construction workers, and handed off to a good samaritan who took him to Maalaea Harbour.
Animal welfare workers then transported him to the Maui Humane Society where he was treated for burns to his paws, legs, back and body.
Roman was microchipped, and was reunited with Ms Woods Willhour over the weekend.
On Friday, she shared that Rocket had also been found safe.
The Maui Humane Society said it had been flooded with thousands of emails, phone calls and requests for information from worried pet owners.
It expected to treat hundreds of pets for smoke inhalation and burn injuries, and has appealed for help.
Teams of volunteers and veterinarians from the non-profit have been touring burned out areas documenting every deceased pet that they find.
A fundraiser set up to assist the Maui Humane Society had raised just under $500,000 by Monday afternoon.
The Maui community was showing strong solidarity in helping to save the island’s beloved pets, the animal charity said.
Beyond Hawaii, pet and animal shelters around the US are pledging to do whatever they can to help out.
In Utah, A New Beginning Animal Rescue said it was ready to send teams of trained vets to Maui to assist with the recovery effort.
Lahaina resident Isabelle Alexander managed to escape town with her husband Miguel and 10-year-old daughter Shiloh, but her two pet birds flew off when their house caught fire.
“Please help us find our 2 babies, we lost them as we were evacuating our home in Lahaina, we are devastated,” Ms Alexander wrote in a post on the Missing Pets of Maui Facebook page.
Another poster Nicole Rockett said on Thursday that her two horses were missing from the upper Loniapoko area. She later reported that they had been found safe, and credited the efforts of good samaritans on social media with helping to locate them.
Franklin “Frankie” Trejos, 68, had lived for several years in Lahaina with his friend Shannon Weber-Bogar and her husband, retired Maui fire captain Geoff Bogar.
When the fires came, Mr Trejos and Mr Bogar remained in the home to try to save the house and help neighbours, Ms Weber-Bogar told ABC News.
As the flames grew closer on Tuesday afternoon, the friends tried to escape in separate cars.
Mr Bogar’s vehicle failed to start, and he broke a window to escape and was rescued by police and taken to hospital, he told the Associated Press.
When the family returned the next day they found Mr Trejos in the back seat of the burned out car on top of the remains of the couple’s beloved three-year-old golden retriever Sam, according to Ms Weber-Bogar.
It appeared he had been trying to shield Sam from the flames when he died.
“God took a really good man,” Ms Weber-Bogar told the AP.
On Friday specialist search and rescue units with cadaver dogs arrived on Maui to go door-to-door to check burned out homes for bodies.
Just a small fraction of destroyed houses had been searched by Monday, and Governor Josh Brown has warned the loss of life is likely to rise significantly.
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