In the town of Créon, on the northern outskirts of Bordeaux, a boarding kennel called Cabanes de Tchanquées has turned into something far bigger than its usual purpose. What’s normally a dog boarding facility is now packed wall to wall with animals of every kind, dogs barking across its grounds while the occasional meow cuts through the noise.
Rapidly spreading wildfires have burned through an area of France’s Gironde region roughly four times the size of Paris, tearing through forests and homes and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate with little warning. In the panic, countless pet owners were confronted with an impossible choice — leave their animals behind and risk losing them to smoke and flame, or take them along into an uncertain evacuation with no clear destination.
A Kennel Transforms Into a Lifeline
Seeing the crisis unfold, David Avril and his wife Mary-Line, who own Cabanes de Tchanquées, made the decision on July 25 to convert their property into a refuge for displaced pets. The facility doesn’t normally house cats at all, but the scale of the emergency changed that overnight.
David has taken the lead on caring for the dogs and cats arriving at the property, including Alaska, a pet whose owners were evacuated because of the fires. His phone, by his own account, rings constantly, and there simply isn’t enough space or equipment to help every animal that needs it.
“We’re trying our best to help everyone, but unfortunately we can’t do it all,” David said. “There’s been a wonderful show of solidarity, but in the end, we’re short on space and equipment. That’s the hardest part. We can’t save everyone. If there are any more evacuations, it’s going to become a real problem.”
Saving the Horses of Gironde
While David focuses on smaller animals, Mary-Line has taken charge of a very different kind of rescue effort: horses. An experienced rider herself, she says the process for horses turned out to be more manageable than for cats and dogs.
“Everything was much easier for the horses,” she explained, crediting how quickly France’s equestrian community organized itself, connecting threatened or abandoned horses with people willing to shelter them. Much of that coordination happened through an online platform called SOS O Paddock, which let horse owners facing evacuation find shelter space and arrange transport almost in real time.
Mary-Line was especially moved by widely shared footage of horses galloping loose through the streets of Biscarosse, in the neighbouring Landes region, fleeing a fire that had broken out just hours earlier. “Horses have a very strong survival instinct. Letting them out of the field was the best thing to do,” she said. “But I can’t imagine how heartwrenching that must have been. Fortunately, we now know that all of them have been rescued and are safe and sound.”
A Wider Effort, and a Heavier Toll
Cabanes de Tchanquées isn’t operating alone. Volunteers and veterinary professionals across the affected region have been caring for a wide range of animals, from dogs and cats to rabbits, helping displaced families manage the disruption to their pets’ lives alongside their own.
But not every story from these fires has a happy ending. While companion animals have benefited from an outpouring of organised volunteer support, wildlife across the burning forests hasn’t been nearly as fortunate. Countless mammals, amphibians, insects, and reptiles were simply unable to outrun the rapidly advancing flames.
Why This Story Resonates Far Beyond France
Efforts like the one at Cabanes de Tchanquées highlight something disaster response planners increasingly recognise: pets need a plan of their own when catastrophe strikes, and community-driven networks like SOS O Paddock can make the difference between chaos and coordinated rescue.
For pet owners everywhere, David and Mary-Line’s makeshift refuge is a reminder of both the fragility and the resilience on display whenever disaster hits close to home — and of how much can be achieved when volunteers, veterinary teams, and technology-driven coordination come together for animals who can’t help themselves.
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