6A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • DECEMBER 5, 2018
Cowboy 911 rescues animals after wildfi res
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By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Brandon Blakesley’s fi rst
interaction with Cowboy
911 was on Facebook.
Th e group, which now
has 21,000 followers on its
page, was using the social
media platform to reach out
to potential volunteers and
donors in an eff ort to max-
imize their missions to Cal-
ifornia, where they rescued
livestock and other animals
aft er the Camp wildfi re in
Paradise destroyed entire
communities.
“My goal is to try and in-
form people ways they can
get involved,” Blakesley, a
Cottage Grove resident said
during a phone interview.
He had made another trip
to California with his three
working dogs and his trail-
er and said the eff ects of the
fi re still lingered in the com-
munity.
“Going through the heart
of the community, you
know, this community that
was built so well is stripped
of everything it once had,”
he said. “Th ere’s neighbor-
hoods I went through and
there’s maybe one house
that survived on the road.”
Th e Camp fi re tore
through more than 150,000
acres in Butte County, Calif.,
in the 18 days that it burned
before being declared 100
percent contained on Nov.
25.
Nearly 14,000 homes were
destroyed along with 4,800
other structures, killing 88
people. At one point, more
than 1,000 were reported
missing.
Th at number has since
dropped to 25.
Cowboy 911 was started
by Justin Jones aft er he ran
into an elderly couple with
a fl at tire. Instead of wait-
ing for help, Jones told local
media outlets he thought
of all the nearby commu-
nity members who would
have gladly off ered help
and eliminated a long wait
time.
When the Camp and
Car fi res started, commu-
nity members turned to
Cowboy 911 and the group
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PHOTO C/O BRANDON BLAKESLEY
Cottage Grove resident Brandon Blakesley and his three working dogs recently made an-
other trip to California to help Cowboy 911, a community-based group, search for animals
in need of rescuing in the wake of the recent wildfi res that have swept the state.
has since then rescued thou-
sands of animals.
“People had 30 seconds to
a minute to get out of their
homes,” Blakesley said, “So,
yes — it only takes 30 sec-
onds to a minute to write
their phone numbers on
their horses. But for some
people, it was 30 seconds to
a minute to get their chil-
dren out of the house.”
Blakesley, who moved to
Cottage Grove in 2012, has
rescued all types of animals
in his handful of trips to
California from horses to
dogs to lizards, exotic birds
and tortoises. His most
memorable rescue was a
pair of horses up on a hill
when the smoke was still so
thick it hindered his vision.
“It was a horse with no
eyes and a mare and that
horse followed that mare
all the way down,” he said.
“Th at mare was a seeing eye
dog for that horse and they
were best friends.”
Th e animals Cowboy 911
rescues in conjunction with
North Valley Animal Disas-
ter are housed at the Chi-
co Airport and the Butte
County Fairgrounds. Resi-
dents missing animals can
call a hotline and volunteers
work to match animals with
their owners.
“It’s neighbors helping
neighbors,” Blakesley said.
“And a neighbor can be a
neighbor whether they're
10 minutes away or 10 miles
away or 10 hours away.”
Locally, Wagon Wheel
Feed and Grain in Creswell
is working with Blakesley
to gather donations for the
animals that Blakesley says
can go through 40,000 tons
of food a day. According to
the feed store, it is accept-
ing credit card numbers of
those who want to donate
but don’t make the trip to
Creswell. For those who do,
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they can drop off donations
at the store or purchase feed
at the store to be shipped to
California.
Donations are being sold
for the cause at wholesale,
rather than retial price, ac-
cording to the store.
“To some people, maybe
they can’t have children but
these animals are their chil-
dren, they’re family,” Blakes-
ley said. “And it’s the tough-
est time, the holiday season
so I just want to let people
know how they can help.”
For more information,
contact Blakesley at 541-
206-8591.
To donate, contact Wag-
on Wheel Feed and Grain at
541-942-4386.
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