5 Carr Fire animal stories to bring you hope

The Carr Fire left an impact on thousands when the blaze disrupted Shasta County life and destroyed homes. Now, a year out from the destructive wildfire, we want to remember not just the thousands forced to evacuate, but our friends in the animal kingdom whose lives were also turned upside down.

These stories show that even through the ash, there's some light and some hope. Some of these furry friends were lost for days or months and ultimately were reunited with their families. Others banded together and were rescued by unlikely allies.

We hope these stories bring you a smile on this anniversary of the destructive Carr Fire. 

Eres will go down in hissstory 🐍

In the midst of the blaze a 14-foot python went missing in south Redding. 

Eres, a lavender albino reticulated python, had gotten loose from a plastic bin kept at a home off El Verano Street on July 28, 2018.

At the time of the incident, Sandra Dodge-Streich, owner of Redding Reptiles, said they had to evacuate its store on Lake Boulevard when the Carr Fire got to Redding.

At first, the store moved its snakes, geckos, bearded dragons, tortoises to Tortoise Acres in south Redding, but then they had to evacuate from there with their 130 reptiles, according to Dodge-Streich. 

Read Eres' story here:How did a 14-foot python go missing in south Redding?

They then moved again, totaling four moves since the Carr Fire broke out. 

They were keeping Eres the python in a 2-foot-by-4-foot plastic tub, but she got out. Dodge-Streich assured that the snake probably wouldn't go far.

“She’s beautiful. She’s not harmful,” Dodge-Streich said. "She’s not a big snake, she’s a long snake."

Thanks to word of a missing python getting around, Eres was found a few days later coiled up in a milk crate. 

When the Record Searchlight checked in on Eres in December 2018, she was back to her normal routine. 

“She’s doing fine. She’s in a big cage in the back room,” said Ryan Allinger, who manages the Redding Reptiles store.

Wondering what Eres has been up to since the fire? Us too, so we slithered on down to see her. 

Great news, life has been good for Eres the python since her escape from a 2-foot by 4-foot plastic tub and went on the run, or in her case, the slither.

A year has passed and during that time she has grown about a foot longer. That’s what happens when you live on a diet of whole chickens.

Eres gained worldwide fame when the story of her escape went viral. Now she just hangs out in her cage eating a chicken once every two weeks to a month.

“She is actually a ‘Gentle Ben,’” Dodge-Streich said. “People like to come and see her because she is the famous snake.”

How Jimmy survived a CATastrophe 🐱

Jimmy the cat knew something wasn’t right.

As the Carr Fire raced toward his west Redding home, Jimmy disappeared.

So his owners, Tony and Toni Miller, had no choice but to leave him behind as they evacuated their Land Park neighborhood on July 26, 2018 — the evening the fire jumped the Sacramento River and blew up through Redding.

But Tony Miller had a feeling Jimmy might be able to ride out the inferno.

WATCH:Jimmy the Cat goes indoors

And he knew where.

For years, he had watched the black cat jump into the storm drain in front of the house. The subterranean concrete enclosure would shield Jimmy from the flames, Tony figured.

Sure enough, when the Millers returned on a Saturday to the burning remains of their home, a neighbor told them he thought he saw a cat in the storm drain.

Toni went to the drain and there he was. Jimmy spent nine days hunkered down in the storm drain before the Millers rescued him.

Read Jimmy's story here: How one cat rode out the Carr Fire

Curious what Jimmy's been up to since the fire? Us too, so we checked in. 

Jimmy has been living at Miller Trucking in Redding since the fire. The Record Searchlight talked to employees and this is the exclusive information we gathered: 

• He can open doors and uses this ability to drop in on workers in side offices. Once someone locked him in their office from the inside for a little and he opened the lock and got out.

• He doesn’t really belong to one employee in particular, they just consider him the shop cat, some even joke he's the CEO.

• When he’s not lounging around (which he often is), he’s very friendly and will probably approach you, even if you’re a stranger.

• He leaves a lot of fur around, employees have to clean It every so often.

• According to the employees, the owners figured he was probably better off staying here instead of moving with them to Henderson, Nevada.

• The employees said that he sort of has “PTSD” when it comes to going outside. They said that he’ll sometimes indicate that he wants to go/be taken outside, but usually after they let him outside, he sort of freezes up or sometimes shakes a little and wants to come back inside. The employees figured this is probably because of all those days he had to spend outside during the Carr Fire.

A beary happily ever after 🐻

This Whiskeytown bear's story may not start off pleasant, but we promise it's a tale worth reading. 

This 50-pound bear was found licking her burned paws beside Crystal Creek in the mountains west of Whiskeytown Lake during the Carr Fire. 

A wildlife veterinary team then started taking special care of the yearling after the workers who found her called for help.

To bring the injured youngster back to health, vets used an experimental treatment that had only been used a few times.

They attached sterilized tilapia skin, scales and all, to her feet with her claws sticking through. It's a process that was used successfully to nurture two adult bears to health who were burned in Southern California's Thomas Fire.

The Carr Fire bear became known across the country as word of her rescue and treatment made national headlines.

The bear was never given a name though because wildlife officials didn't want her to be treated like a pet and from day one always planned to release her back into the wild. 

A week or so after the initial story the Record Searchlight checked back in on the bear. 

At that point, she was healing quickly and walking around as best she could. 

Pictures of the 1-year-old bruin in a hammock at a California Department of Fish and Wildlife property in Rancho Cordova went viral. Her recovery was remarkable and really was a sign of hope to all those displaced. 

After six weeks in captivity and recovering from third-degree burns on all four paws, the bear was returned to the wild. Since undergoing special treatment the bruin had gained 25 pounds and was ready for the next step. 

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials released her on a remote dirt road about 3 miles off Highway 299 in Trinity County.

The bear didn't appear to want to stay around humans when she was released. She immediately ran away when the door to her crate was opened. 

Jamie Peyton, a veterinarian who treated the bear, said the bear's recovery is part of a larger story about the community's recovery from the Carr Fire.

"It's not about one animal. It truly is about a bigger picture," Peyton said. "I think it does bring about hope to a lot of people."

Read all of our Carr Fire bear coverage here: 

• Rescued: Young bear rescued in Carr Fire undergoes unique paw therapy
• Healing: Carr Fire bear kicking back in hammock as her burned paws heal
• Mama bear: Is the spunky Carr Fire bear missing her mama?
• Recovery: Carr Fire bear continues her 'remarkable recovery'
• Happy trails: Beloved bear injured in the Carr Fire returns to the wild

Millie's purrfect ending 🐈

When Millie ran away from a Carr Fire evacuation center, her owner Judy Henderson thought she was dead. Judy's husband, Tom, however held out slim hope he'd see the cat again.

His hope paid off because eight months later, Millie came home.

“I really had given up on her,” Judy Henderson said.

In fact, when the Hendersons got a call that volunteers had found a cat matching Millie's description, it seemed almost to good to be true. 

Judy Henderson said she didn't recognize Millie when she saw a photo of the dilute calico in the carrier. “I was happy, but I didn’t really believe it. She looked darker."

She also was chubbier. But, when volunteers checked the cat's microchip it was confirmed.

Millie didn't survive 8 months all on her own though, she may have been helped by some streetwise friends. 

"Millie had been absorbed into a colony of friendly community cats that lived out at Shasta College," said Redding resident Ruthie Cortright, one of the group's coordinators.

Pretty pawfect ending if you ask us. 

Read Mille's full story: Carr Fire cat makes it home to Redding 8 months after fire

An unlikely, but eggcellent duo 🐔😻

While the Carr Fire continued to blaze through Redding this unlikely duo banded together. Firefighters battling the fire found this chicken and cat huddled together in a doorway. 

The odd couple were together for safety and support. 

Both were rescued, given water and taken to the vet. 

These animals weren't the only ones who braved the blaze, check out more photos, videos and stories showcasing brave animals. 

But wait.. there's more

• No shortage of volunteers in helping animals as Carr Fire pummels Shasta County
• From feeding fish to saving donkeys, Carr firefighters go the extra mile for evacuees
• Volunteers try to save pets in Carr Fire-burned areas while shelters, rescues full
• Couple converts home to animal sanctuary for Turtle Bay's Carr Fire evacuees
• Carr Fire bear, Jimmy the cat and Eres the python: Where are they now?

The Redding Record Searchlight is publishing stories on the Carr Fire anniversary throughout the next week. Check redding.com or follow us on Facebook for updates.