More Than 100 Dogs Recovered From One Home in Dollar Ridge Fire

ROOSEVELT, Utah – Volunteers with Furever Buddys Animal Rescue have their hands full with 102 newly-rescued dogs. All of them came from one home inside the Dollar Ridge Fire evacuation area, and there are likely more still to be recovered.

“We had a family that was passing by the area, and saw a bunch of dogs running around,” Rescue Founder Melisa Stevenson said. “(They) gathered what they could and took them to the fairgrounds.”

Stevenson and her staff went into the area on July 4, to grab as many dogs as they could. They came back with 61. Each time they went back, she says they found more. Stevenson says some dogs had burrowed into furniture.

“It was definitely and eye-opener,” Stevenson said. “I think what was more heartbreaking for me was to see how scared they all were, not knowing what was going on.”

Janet Alberts, assistant director at the rescue, was there too.

“It was the worst thing I’d ever seen,” Alberts said. “They were cowering behind couches. There were holes in the wall, and they were trying to go in the wall and they were all plain scared to death.”

While the Roosevelt animal shelter is getting flooded with calls from people, interested in adopting the dogs, Stevenson says it will likely be about two weeks before any are ready. Each will need paperwork, vaccinations, and to be spayed or neutered. Some need additional veterinary care.

“I think the biggest part of it is going to be socializing the ones that need a little bit more,” Stevenson said.

While many of the dogs were inside the evacuation area during the fire, Stevenson says they likely didn’t notice, considering the conditions they were already living in.

“The fire was probably nothing to them,” Stevenson said. “They’re all a bunch of little survivors for sure.”