Wildfires in southern California are blazing out of control and driving residents from their homes.
Among the lives threatened by the blaze are many that cannot evacuate at will: animals in shelters and pens, from dogs and cats to horses and some much more exotic animals as well.
Ten different animal rescue centers have been established. Not all of them can manage large animals—and not all of them can provide shelter for giraffes.
Malibu Safari Ranch Lost, All the Animals Saved
Malibu Wine Safari is a popular attraction featuring fine wines and dozens of exotic animals housed on the 1,000-acre Saddlerock ranch.Guests cruise across the normally pleasant Malibu countryside, weaving among hillsides festooned with grape vines, stopping at local vineyards and seeing animals such as zebra, bison, alpacas, camels, and the safari’s star attraction, Stanley the Giraffe.
Unfortunately, the ranch was right in the path of the combined fires, when they started on Nov.8. Pushed by 50–70 mph winds, the flames swept across the park in only a few hours.
Safari staff did not have time to arrange transport and lodging for all the animals in that short a time. According to Wine Safari veterinarian Dr. Stephen Klause, many of the largest animals would have to be tranquilized and lifted by crane onto a truck bed—bison for instance, are not docile creatures.
More than 100 exotic animals, and dozens of horse boarding on ranch grounds, had to be released into the ranch’s open central area, a vast, treeless expanse of short grass with no fuel for a fire. The area includes a lake, so dehydration would not be a problem.
None of the animals died or were even injured by the fire.
One llama injured the sole of one foot, and one horse cut itself on some barbed wire.
Both animals were treated by ranch staff, which worked through the night to make sure all the animals were checked, fed, and watered by the next morning.
According to the Wine Safari website, 95 percent of the park was destroyed by the fire on Nov. 9.
Celebrity Attention
The efforts of the Wine Safari staff to keep all the animals safe might have gone unnoticed, lost in the flood of stories about the fires ravaging the state.However, Wine Safari’s star attraction, Stanley the Giraffe, had won the heart of reality star Khloé Kardashian.
Someone sent Kardashian a text telling her that Stanley was at risk, and the reality star shared it on social media.
Not realizing she was a victim of bad information, Kardashian helped stir up a firestorm of concern for the park's animals.
Ariel Winter sent a tweet saying she had heard Stanley couldn’t be moved. “Can anyone assist in getting Stanley the giraffe to a safe place??? He’s currently stuck in the Malibu wine safari area and is not safe.”
Comedian Whitney Cummings posted on Instagram that Stanley had been moved but was in a precarious situation. She also criticized the park for not evacuating the animals days earlier—though the fire started on Nov. 8 and reached the park in about three hours, by which time all the animals had been led to safety.
Eventually, enough media reports that the animals were safe filtered through the cloud of frightened social media posts, and the celebrities calmed down, knowing that their favorite four-legged celebrity was doing well.