Anyone capable, want to put this woman up in a new house so she can continue her work for animals?

[Guest guest]

SAN FRANCISCO

 

Dog rescuer loses her home in a fire

3 canines she was fostering are killed in destructive blaze

www.sfgate.com

 

For most of her life, Pali Boucher lived on the streets, in the grip of

alcohol and drugs as HIV settled in her blood.

 

It was a dog who saved her, giving her a reason to clean up and get a life.

 

She then set about saving dogs, founding San Francisco's Rocket Dog Rescue

in 2001.

 

But fate threw her out on the street again Friday as a fire raged through

her home, killing three fostered animals and threatening her ability to save

more shelter animals sitting on death row.

 

It was just before noon Friday when Boucher, 42, left her Bernal Heights

home after tending to her three foster dogs, making sure they had food and

water before heading out the door. About a half hour later, she got a call

from a friend.

 

Her home, the top floor of a duplex, was on fire, and firefighters were

breaking through the door.

 

She rushed back, only to find the three dogs on the sidewalk, each covered

by a blanket: Daisy, a just-rescued, emaciated pit bull; Stewie, an ornery

Chihuahua; and Guthrie, an aged and mellow shepherd mix.

 

All three died in the fire, as did an injured pigeon she was nursing back to

health and Boucher's beloved and talkative parrot Chester, with her since he

hatched 10 years ago.

 

Her own three dogs had been out of the house at the time of the fire and

were safe.

 

" I lost everything, " Boucher said Saturday afternoon. " But the thing I had

of most value was the animals in the house. "

 

As a child, Boucher grew up with her hippie mom on the streets, bouncing

from communes to foster homes and even a Mexican jail cell.

 

She remembers begging the cops not to arrest her drunk or drugged-out mom.

 

When Boucher was 10, her mother died. Within a couple of years, the streets

called her back. It was the only home she knew.

 

As an adult, drugs and alcohol lured her as they had her mother.

 

Then she met Leadbelly.

 

He was a hound dog she adopted from the local pound, lying about her address

to take him home.

 

Leadbelly saved her, giving her a reason to get clean and get a life.

 

When she got on her feet, she started fostering other dogs and found her

life's calling.

 

Rocket Dog Rescue has helped about 3,000 animals over the years - the vast

majority saved as they were scheduled for imminent euthanasia at various

shelters across Northern California.

 

Boucher's duplex was often the first stop for those animals, many with

urgent health needs.

 

As Boucher talked, she clutched an old, one-eyed dachshund named Darby, one

of her recent rescues and now in foster care with friends at Kosita's Pet

Grooming, where Boucher is temporarily staying.

 

Also destroyed in the fire was Boucher's artwork, irreplaceable paintings

and photographs that melted in the blaze.

 

Yet it was the animals that Boucher kept talking about.

 

Chester was a character.

 

He loved being part of a household full of rescued and family animals. He

could swear like a sailor and mimic Boucher's friends, even the one who

spoke Portuguese. He would initiate new foster dogs by calling them over

with kissing sounds, biting them on their noses, and then laughing.

 

" I don't know where he learned that, " Boucher said, a sad smile on her face.

 

But her face lit up when a friend arrived with Boucher's bloodhound in tow,

a large, wrinkly dog named Lightnin' Hopkins, after the blues guitarist.

 

Boucher grabbed the large dog's saggy face and kissed him on the mouth.

 

Her other two dogs, pit bull Memphis Minnie and pit bull mix Muddy Waters,

were being cared for elsewhere.

 

" Everything was so stable and strong, " she said scratching Lightnin's jowls,

her mind returning to the fire. " My home was my stability. "

 

Friends and Rocket Dog volunteers have come to Boucher's rescue this time,

giving shelter to her dogs and helping with the daily needs of the 50 or so

rescued dogs now in foster care.

 

" We take the dogs other people won't take, " said volunteer Laura Beck.

" They're not the perfect little dogs that everyone wants. "

 

Many are older dogs or those that are injured or sick.

 

They had all been scheduled for euthanasia and were rescued with just hours

to spare.

 

The nonprofit organization spends about $150,000 on veterinary bills every

year - money raised through donations, annual fundraisers and the $175 fee

from adoptions.

 

Many of the rescued animals went to Boucher's house first. She gets them

stabilized and calm, so she can evaluate what kind of foster home or

permanent family they need.

 

She doesn't know if she'll be able to move back into her duplex or will need

to find another home.

 

That she was homeless yet again didn't matter as much as the fact that there

were animals that needed a home.

 

" We can't stop the business of rescue, " she said. " What about the dogs

they're calling about now? "

 

There's a black Lab whose days are numbered and who needs a foster home, she

said. And a Chihuahua, too, she added.

 

" I was their safety net, " Boucher said. " I don't know how long I'll be

without the ability to do that. "

To help

 

Rocket Dog Rescue is looking for long-term foster homes for animals as well

as a large, permanent sanctuary with living quarters for Boucher. For more

information, go to rocketdogrescue.org.

 

Those interested in *fostering animals or with leads on housing *should call

Paul Gigliotti at (415) 846-2023 or e-mail Laura Beck at

laura.