[Spridgets] The fires--a personal note

Robert Bruce Evans b-evans at earthlink.net
Wed Oct 24 22:20:18 MDT 2007


Sometimes, just a small incident unnoticed by others can bring home the heartbreak of a disaster such as the Southern California fires.  So it was with me.

Our son, Scott, has always been a "rescuer";  rescuing every imaginable animal from small birds to snakes to kittens.  It was only natural that he want a career with the Orange County Animal Control.  Two weeks ago, he was promoted to lieutenant, and he has been the field commander in the rescue and evacuation of everything from dogs and cats to horses and llamas threatened by the fire.

Yesterday, he had to do the one thing he never likes to do.  A young deer had been hopelessly injured, and it was left to Scott to take his rifle and put the deer down.  Pretty hard for someone who has always been devoted to rescuing and nursing back to health injured animals.

On the bright side, some of you may have seen him on the news in the last couple of days in one of the most bizarre incidents of the fire.  A pack of llamas that had been kept in the Santiago/Trabucco Canyon area had been set free by its owner, hoping that they could somehow escape.  Like everyone else evacuating the area, the llamas started to use the one road through the area, causing all kinds of confusion and consternation.  So, Scott was called and had to use a tranquillizer dart to knock out the leader and calming the situation.

One of the other lieutenants lives in the picturesque Modjeska Canyon area that is being devastated.  At last word, his house had survived, but his neighbor's had been completely destroyed.  How fickle nature can be.

For maps of the burn areas in Orange County, see:

http://tinyurl.com/yrzs6p
http://tinyurl.com/ysfy2q
http://tinyurl.com/2bn5og

Buster Evans


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