Portland rescue takes in LA shelter dogs, making space for pets displaced by fires

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – One Tail at a Time, a dog rescue organization in northeast Portland, picked up seven shelter dogs from Los Angeles at the airport in Troutdale on Sunday afternoon.

Multiple major wildfires are burning in the Los Angeles area and have displaced thousands of people.

But pets are often displaced during natural disasters, too. In order to make room for displaced animals, dogs already in the shelters needed a place to go. That’s where One Tail at a Time comes in.

“We feel lucky to be able to help any way we can,” said Juli Zagrans, executive director of One Tail at a Time.

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Zagrans said a shelter partner in the Los Angeles area reached out to her, asking if One Tail at a Time cold take in any shelter dogs from the Los Angeles area.

“We responded and said that we’re here to help generally, just let us know what you need,” Zagrans said. “A day or two later, they called and said ‘How many can you take?’”

Zagrans said it feels good to have the opportunity and the resources to help, especially during times like these.

“Rescue work is already pretty chaotic sometimes,” Zagrans said. “Add in a natural disaster, a horrible tragedy of an unprecedented nature like this and I truly can’t even imagine.”

Now that the dogs are in Portland, they will be connected to a foster home through One Tail at a Time. Finally, these dogs will get to sleep in a bed, rather than in a kennel at a shelter.

“They get to go decompress in a home instead of a shelter for the first time in who knows how long,” Zagrans said.

According to Zagrans, the dogs from Los Angeles will become available for adoption in about a week. While Zagrans said she hopes the seven dogs from Los Angeles will find their forever homes, she hopes all of the dogs at One Tail at Time are adopted soon.

Follow this link to learn more about adopting or fostering a dog through One Tail at a Time.

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