Over 1,000 pets died in the Marshall Fire, according to CU study, and authors want to help prevent future deaths
More than 1,000 pets perished in the Marshall Fire, many of them trapped inside their homes as their humans left for the day and couldn't free them.
Some couldn't get home in time due to stand-still traffic, some were out of town.
That's according to a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder. The study's authors are now urging pet owners and their neighbors and loved ones to be prepared for wildfires and other disasters that might force them to evacuate.
"My main takeaway is that to save our pets, we need to know our neighbors," said Leslie Irvine, co-author of the study and sociology professor at CU Boulder and author of the book, Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters.
She and co-author Cassara Andre, a veterinarian, scoured social media and public documents and interviewed animal shelter staffers and eight people who lost 17 animals between them.
The study does not include animals like chickens and livestock, only dogs, cats and other common house pets.
Only 24 animals, mostly dogs, were brought to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley and reunited with their owners. Of the 107 lost animal reports filed with the Humane Society, only 26 were canceled because the animal was later found.
"In sum, it appears that the majority of animals were not rescued," the study concludes, pointing to the fire's unusual behavior, coupled with widely reported pitfalls in the emergency notification system for the high fatality rate.
Now Irvine is helping the nonprofit Animal Help Now design a Pet Help and Rescue App. The app, set to come out in January, will help connect pet owners with potential rescuers in the event of an emergency.
Organization founder David Crawford came up with the app idea after he fled the Marshall Fire with his two cats.
Before leaving, he knocked on a neighbor's door and discovered his German Shepherd inside alone. After contacting the owner on Facebook, he entered and rescued the dog.
Other animals weren't as fortunate.
"In one square block that I drove around, there was a cockatiel, a tortoise, two cats and two dogs," Crawford said, noting that had he known how to get in, he could have done more. "I had time. I could have conceivably saved all those animals."