AR-News: (CA - US) Emergency Rescue non-profit ready to help animals

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Group assisted 900 during the Cedar fire 

By Ruth Lepper 

March 4, 2004 

RAMONA – When an emergency situation strikes, Jan Pickton and Doug Lake do whatever is necessary to save animals' lives.  

They know what to do, where to go and what to expect. 

Pickton and Lake are leaders of the Ramona-based Emergency Animal Rescue, a nonprofit group. Along with other volunteers, they answer calls for help from around the county and beyond. 

"This is 24/7 for us," Pickton said. 

During the Cedar fire in October, the volunteer organization rescued more than 900 animals. Most of them were horses, but it wasn't only large animals that turned up in a holding area near state Route 67 and Mussey Grade Road. 

"We had a pen full of goats," Pickton said. "We had chickens, dogs." 

The volunteers were well-prepared. 

"When nothing is going on, we drive around the county and spot somebody's ranch and talk to them," Lake said. "So if there is a fire, there's someplace nearby where we can take the animals." 

While the usual rescue calls pertain to domestic animals, there are times when wild critters need help. 

"Bobcats, raccoons, opossums, coyotes, birds of prey," Lake said of past rescues. "We had a snake behind somebody's vanity in a wall, a 6-foot boa." 

For that rescue, they sent a volunteer with snake expertise. Her advice to the homeowner was to have patience. After about a week, the pet snake came out on its own accord. 

Saving cats from tall trees or rooftops are the most common requests, but there have been some unusual rescues. 

"We've done emus," Pickton said. "There was a couple of them in the Mount Woodson area that had been injured. Coyotes or mountain lions had gotten them . . . Somebody saw them and called us. We spent a couple of hours tracking them through the avocado groves." 

Other out-of-the-ordinary rescues have involved a horse that fell into a well, horses over cliffs and a dog in a mine shaft. 

Pickton and Lake have adopted two rescued dogs. Tanka was trapped in a sewer pipe in Alpine, and Dump was found abandoned in a Dumpster in Lakeside. A third dog, Annie, was adopted from a shelter. 

When the couple sets up an evacuation center, such as during the Cedar fire, they work out of a renovated 1996 Aerotech bus, which serves as their command post. 

"We've added a work station, cabinets, a bunk – if someone is injured or tired," Lake said. 

There is space for small animal carriers and other supplies. 

"This got a workout during the Cedar fire," Pickton said. 

Emergency Animal Rescue has 35 active members countywide. Volunteers are required to go through intensive training sessions before joining rescue teams. 

But the real test is out in the field. 

"Until you actually get out there and do hands-on, you're not going to know what to do," said Pickton, 52. 

She has been with group since it was organized in 1993 by Paddye and Mike Conant. Lake, 46, came on board the following year after hearing the Conants interviewed on the radio. 

"They had just come back from the Northridge earthquake, rescuing animals from the buildings that had collapsed," Lake said. "I thought to myself, 'Now there's something worthwhile.'" 

Pickton and Lake have traveled from their home in Ramona as far as Texas to assist in animal rescues during a flood. 

For more information about Emergency Animal Rescue or to report an animal in danger, call (760) 789-5775. 

Ruth Lepper is a freelance writer based in Ramona. A town focus for Ramona is published each Thursday. Do you have a story idea for Ramona? For special events, please alert us at least four weeks in advance. We work ahead! Contact Julie Pendray at (760) 737-7562 or julie.pendray at uniontrib.com.