Foster for Helen Woodward Animal Center to help save animal orphans in the LA wildfires

Helen Woodward Animal Center has a motto: People help animals, and animals help people. This saying could not have rung truer than during their recent relief actions during the horrific LA wildfires.

With tens of thousands of homes destroyed, families displaced, and tragically, many pets lost since the fires started on January 7th, 2025, there has been a huge rise in ‘community animals’ - pets given up to community care (shelters) with apparently no home or family, lost during the frantic confusion and fear of the fires. 

Our thoughts are with all of those affected. Our charity partner, the Helen Woodward Animal Center, understands the importance of serving the animal welfare community of Southern California all year round, and their actions during the LA wildfires showed that their love for animals has no boundaries.

Helen Woodward Animal Center’s life-saving initiatives

During these devastating first weeks of 2025, the Helen Woodward Animal Center has worked closely with shelters in the area, coordinating more than 10 separate trips north to provide animal supplies, necessities for humans, and veterinary assistance to affected areas. Their aid offers help to pet parents with hungry or injured animals, provides sanctuary to lost or homeless pets, and helps reunite found and rescued animals with their missing families.

Thanks to them and all the generous donations they received they were able to support over 350 different sites, across over 700 miles of LA County. This aid came in the form of pet food, dog toys, cat litter, treats, litter boxes, food and water bowls, and crates. Plus, a huge amount of clothing, toiletries, blankets, food, and medical supplies were also provided for human companions.

While this aid helped offer some comfort and relief for many animals and humans, there still remains the issue of uniting lost pets with their families. Unfortunately, the chances of being able to reunite these displaced pets with their original families are statistically low. It’s a heartbreaking truth, and one Helen Woodward Animal Services Director, Kendall Schulz, is all too aware of: 

“The work these shelters are doing to care for the community animals is truly amazing. The heartbreak that most people don’t realize is that, with the kennels full of community pets, there is simply no room for the regularly scheduled influx of orphan pets that arrive at these shelters each week. SPCA LA, like Helen Woodward Animal Center, pulls animals from high-kill facilities and if they don’t have the ability to do it, these lives are lost.”

What can I do to help?

To combat this rise in community pets, the SPCA LA has specifically requested assistance with taking in orphan pets who would face euthanasia if their families can’t be found. Helen Woodward Animal Center is at the forefront of this action to save these pets and has begun welcoming pets into their Center.

To ensure that Helen Woodward Animal Center can take as many of these rescue pets as possible, the Center is urgently seeking fosters. Opening up a foster home to orphan dogs and cats for an extended period allows the pet to receive medical care, spays and neuters, vaccinations, and other necessities requiring downtime while keeping kennels open for pets ready to find their forever families.

Ultimately, foster families enable the Center to save more lives and help more animals in need. Best of all, Helen Woodward Animal Center provides our fosters with absolutely everything they need to take care of these temporary furry residents, from food to bedding, to crates, toys, and puppy pee pads. Fosters simply provide the space and the loving care.

Opening your home to animals in need is an incredibly selfless act for the community, but it can also be a beautiful experience for the foster parents, too. If you’re interested, please check the requirements below before filling in an application form:

• Must be at least 18 years old.
• Must have driver’s license and working vehicle to transport pets to and from the Center for routine and emergency appointments.
• Must live within range of one of our San Diego emergency veterinary partners.
• Fill out a foster application and watch the training video.
• Must agree to a virtual home check by a foster program representative.
• Provide in-home care for pets assigned under the foster program and return the pets to the Center on the date specified.
• Drive foster pets to their medical appointments at Helen Woodward Animal Center.
• Keep current, accurate Foster Animal Care Logs for all fostered pets, including:
• Weight
• Medication
• Behavioral records for the foster pets while in your care
• Present the log(s) whenever bringing your foster pets to the Center

If you’re based in the Southern California area and think you could open your home to these animals in need, fill out a Helen Woodward Animal Center foster application: