Longtime Malibu resident Sherman Baylin, owner of Sherman’s Place pet groomers in Zuma Beach Plaza, may be one of the city’s best known animal advocates. And whenever wildfires happen in the area, she immediately springs into action to do whatever needs to be done to help get pets and farm animals to safety, out of the fire’s path.
The second-largest fire in California history, the Thomas Fire, which broke out Dec. 4 near Thomas Aquinas College outside of Ojai, has continued to burn over 272,000 acres with only 50 percent containment in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties as of press time on Tuesday evening. So far, more than 1,000 homes and structures have been destroyed and thousands of people have been evacuated. Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds during the longest period of red-flag warnings ever recorded, a federal state of emergency was declared on Dec. 8.
“Animal Control can’t release trucks and trailers until evacuation is mandatory, so I implore animal owners not to wait until the last minute,” Baylin said. She and her group of contacts focus on getting animals out before evacuation is mandatory, which means they’re active long before Animal Control can even consider doing rescues.
Baylin’s phone number is on the short list of emergency contacts for a number of area horse owners. She got the first call from a horse owner without trailers in the fire zone who wanted to evacuate at about 1 a.m. on Dec. 5, shortly after the Thomas Fire broke out, and has been busy ever since.
Expressing her frustration with the 55 horses that recently burned to death in two separate SoCal fires, her advice to horse owners: “When you have horses in a barn and there’s a fire, unlock those stalls now!”
More than two decades ago, Baylin formed an informal volunteer group of local people with horse trailers to evacuate horses and other farm animals from large wildfires in the area. She also has county animal control personnel on her list, as well as people with barns and extra stalls. The contacts sometimes depend on which county the fire is in.
“We’re like the rescuers from Misfit Island,” Baylin laughed. “We’re a little bit off the grid and we’re not ‘official’ anything.”
Besides doing dispatch, Baylin also goes out on rescues herself, and helps deliver food and supplies. She said it’s amazing the people who just show up to offer help in a fire. At one site, she said a 300-pound cable worker carefully carried a rescued chicken under his arm. Two dancers who just got off work at a club showed up “out of nowhere” in heels and bustiers and offered to help clean stalls. She also put a senior couple wearing respirators to work comforting rescued dogs.
One of the rescuers who worked with Baylin was Charlie Ortiz, a ranch worker from Ojai. In an interview, he recounted how he borrowed a horse trailer from his boss and hitched it to his own truck, and helped anyone whose horses needed evacuating. He moved about 16 horses total from Ojai to Simi Valley temporarily, and then took them back home days later when the fire danger was over. In the future, he may sign up with the Ventura County dispatch for equine emergencies. Baylin called him a hero.
Annie Ellis, another Malibu local who has been a stuntwoman for decades, also does whatever she can to rescue animals in fires. She and Baylin both helped out a ranch near Fillmore to rescue pigs, goats, donkeys and horses. She also spent last weekend in Santa Barbara County helping out friends in the stunt business who keep horses in those mountains. She’s a degreed vet tech, and helps with veterinary care as well as getting horses into trailers.
“My main love in life is animals,” she said. “I’ve been doing rescues a long time.”
Animal rescues are a communitywide effort. Baylin thanks Trancas Riders & Ropers, Dr. John Lupo, Dr. Lisa Newell, Pacific Coast Pets for food donations, Capt. Josh Thai at Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s Station, Malibu Towing for keeping the operation going despite breakdowns, Malibu people Kirby Kotler, Chris Cortazzo and Barry Walker for donations; and One Gun Ranch for taking in a pig.
She said local animal shelters, including one at Camarillo, are currently overrun with rabbits and guinea pigs available for adoption because their owners were displaced. In addition, anyone with available space in stalls and barns willing to foster dogs, cats or horses can text her at 310.924.5353.
