Due to the influx of rescued dogs from the wildfires, room was running out in the Palmdale Shelter in Lancaster, California, meaning time was ticking for Jackie, Pepper and Homer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“A lot of the time at that shelter at Palmdale, a lot of dogs, if they’re not out in two to three weeks, get euthanized,” Skylar Bayer said. “Not all of them, but a lot of them. It’s already crammed — and then you put the fires on top of that.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Bayer, a Juneau resident who adopted a dog from Lancaster in 2023, went down again recently because she tracks dogs online. Bayer belongs to a social media networking group<\/a> that lets people know what dogs are available for adoption. She also makes spreadsheets so people can follow which dogs have euthanasia notices.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “Both Jackie and Pepper had euthanasia notices, so they had a good chance of getting euthanized,” she said. “There are so many great dogs that get euthanized down there for no reason other than there’s just too many of them.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t She brought the three dogs to Juneau Animal Rescue on Saturday. The shelter in Palmdale has one of the highest euthanasia rates in LA County due to the incredibly high volume of animals they receive.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Rick Driscoll, the executive director of JAR, said he was open to sheltering the dogs if Bayer could get them here. He said JAR only euthanizes for behavioral and medical reasons. Driscoll said JAR has an approximately 90% adoption success rate.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Bayer and her husband fronted the costs, which covered flights, gas money, crates, and food and water bowls. Bayer donated her flight miles for part of her ticket, and JAR covered the costs of the health certificates required for Pepper and Jackie.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t