PORT ANGELES — Silver Spurs 4-H Club members have kicked off a campaign to gather used and new horse and livestock tack and supplies to help farmers and ranchers who fled fires in Central and Eastern Washington with their animals but not much else.
Lightning-ignited fires, including the Okanogan Complex and Chelan Complex, have devoured hundreds of homes and barns, and hundreds of thousands of acres in Central and Eastern Washington.
Thousands of stock animal owners have been left without simple supplies, like halters and lead ropes, feed buckets or grooming brushes, said Ellen Menshew, coordinator for the Silver Spurs’ effort.
The club has collection points for cash or animal supplies at Cowboy Country, 923 E. First St., Port Angeles; Leitz Farms, 1527 E. Front St., Port Angeles; Agnew Grocery and Feed, 2863 Old Olympic Highway; or by calling Menshaw at 360-477-5104 to arrange for a pickup.
They are seeking lead ropes, buckets, clips, halters, hoof picks, brushes, grooming supplies, fly masks and fly spray, Western tack, lunge lines, blankets, feed scoops, feed trays, salt blocks, grain and other horse-related supplies.
The 4-H members did not forget the firefighters who protected those horses.
For the firefighters, the club is collecting chapstick, sunscreen, socks, personal hygiene items, baby wipes, eyedrops and snacks such as jerky, hard candy, gum and pretzels.
Silver Spurs club members will leave Saturday to deliver the donated items and cash to those who need them in the Omak area, Menshaw said.
So far, $800 has been collected to help provide supplies to both horse owners and firefighters, she said.
Clallam County Fair
The 4-H members learned of the need when Makhala Fox, Miss Methow Rodeo, and her mother, Karin Fox, visited the Clallam County Fair barns in August and shared their tale.
The Fox family has a ranch in Riverside, outside of Omak, and evacuated as the Okanogan fires approached.
The home and barns were destroyed, but the family was able to get their horses out.
Fox told club members that residents who were evacuating from the area had been told that for any animals they cannot fit in available trailers, paint their phone numbers on the horses’ sides and turn the horses loose, Menshew said.
Many of those horses have been recovered, but there is no tack available to lead those animals or tie them in safe places, she said.
Menshew said owners, in a hurry to evacuate as the fires approached, have simply loaded their horses into trailers without halters and tack.
Some of the animals have been taken to evacuation centers at fairgrounds, but they are also at sheltering ranches and farms scattered all over the state, she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
