Creek Fire: Hundreds of evacuated animals relocated to Fresno Fairgrounds

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Gwen Nunez comes to the Fresno Fairgrounds every day to see her dogs.

"Just making sure they get their walks and they know I'm still here, I'm not abandoning them," she says.

After having to leave her home in Big Sandy Rancheria because of the Creek Fire, she's breathing a sigh of relief that her animals have a place to stay.

"I'm grateful, I'm very grateful that they're here, that they're taking care of my animals since I can't do it," she says.

Nearly 150 dogs and 200 cats are staying at the Fresno Fairgrounds after the impromptu shelter at Clovis North simply couldn't handle the numbers.

These pets are now joining the hundreds of livestock already calling the Fairgrounds home.

Tracy Crutchfield, shelter manager at Fresno Humane Animal Services, says they took roughly 14 hours on Tuesday to move hundreds of animals across town.

"We started at about 6:30 yesterday morning and we didn't leave here until about 10:30 at night," she says.

Now they're asking for volunteers to help keep up with all their four-legged friends.

"This more than doubles the animals in our care with no increase in staffing so we're trying to cover both the shelters with minimum number of paid staff," she says.

They're asking for donations of blankets, towels, and large plastic containers.

Anyone interested in volunteering should text 559-600-PETS.