SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Some of the dogs that were evacuated from the Los Angeles-area wildfires are finding forever homes here in San Diego.
It’s sunny days and playing outside for Glen Koshko and Blaze.
“My kids are older. So, for me to get a puppy, it brings me back to a younger time in my life,” Koshko said.
It’s a second chance at a new life for Blaze. See, his name was Shadow before his adoption.
“We decided to change it to Blaze because that’s where he comes from is the fire in LA,” Koshko said.
Blaze, 38 other dogs and one kitten were brought from the Pasadena Humane Society to San Diego to make room at the local shelter during the fires.
After thinking about giving a forever home to a dog, Koshko’s heart was heavy for those in LA and the animals coming down here.
“Sitting here in San Diego feeling a little bit helpless. Yeah, I could donate a little bit of money, I can donate some supplies,” Koshko said. “But I thought the way to truly give back and help, in our situation, was to go and try to adopt a dog.”
The San Diego Humane Society told Blaze and three other dogs from Pasadena have been adopted so far.
13 are still available for adoption through the humane society at the shelter or are being fostered.
14 have been transferred to other local rescue partners and could be adopted.
“The outpouring of support from the community here in San Diego has been so incredibly heartwarming. Just the folks who have signed up to foster or adopt or help, we could’ve never imagined this kind of response,” Nina Thompson with the San Diego Humane Society said.
The San Diego Humane Society is also having an adoption initiative from January 15th until the 26th in an effort to clear the shelters.
It’ll help make space for other LA animals in need and tackle ongoing overcapacity issues locally.
“That put us in a very tough spot when it came to the fires in LA. That’s why we have to get so many animals out of our shelter,” Thompson said. “And should we have a fire here locally as well, that puts us in a tough spot.”
Koshko told ABC 10News Blaze’s getting comfortable in his new forever home and is very friendly.
Given the need we’re seeing at our local shelter and to help out the animals in LA, Koshko encourages others to help.
“If you have the ability to do it and the want to do it, you should do it. I mean, we’ve had him now for five days. He’s made our house into a home,” Koshko said.
