MILWAUKIE, Ore. – Sela Raisl lives on a poultry farm, so she’s no stranger to chickens, ducks and turkeys.
But in her eight years as a 4-H member with the Oregon State University Extension Service, Raisl had never handled a goose — until last week.
"When I pulled in to hook up, there was Sela, decked out in her 4-H gear, water bottle in hand, ready to jump in the truck and go. I was so shocked. Without even the slightest waver, she was all in.”
On Thursday, 16-year-old Raisl volunteered to help rescue livestock from a rural Clackamas County farm threatened by the Riverside Fire. Amid the smoke and ash, she came face to face with four geese that needed to be moved from a fenced yard into a trailer bound for safety at the Clackamas County Fair and Event Center.
Whoever coined the phrase “mad as a goose” wasn’t exaggerating.
“Geese can be a little scary,” Raisl said. “This was a new experience for me. When we were herding them into the trailer, we got them into a group. But getting them out, you have to put your hand around their neck area and keep their head down.”
She wasn’t bitten or scratched, but once the geese were secured in cages at the fairgrounds, “they were hissing at me,” she said.
Raisl is a senior member of the Fuzzy Squad 4-H Club in Clackamas County. At about 4 p.m. that day, her family received a call from club leader Karen O’Neil, who asked to borrow their horse trailer for an animal rescue.
“There was going to be more than 70 animals at one stop,” O’Neil said. “So, the Raisls generously loaned us the trailer. When I pulled in to hook up, there was Sela, decked out in her 4-H gear, water bottle in hand, ready to jump in the truck and go. I was so shocked. Without even the slightest waver, she was all in.”
Raisl said she understood from O’Neil’s request that there would be a lot of animals to pick up and that help would be needed. She also thought about the people they would be helping.
“I always think that when people are in trouble and they are struggling, you can help them,” she said. “If you have hands and you have feet, you can help.”
Animals, ash and action
With ash falling “like light snow” and smoke thick enough to make breathing difficult, the group rescued nine rabbits, five turkeys, three guinea fowl and a “good amount of chickens,” including a rooster — another bird known for its temper.
“That rooster was running around a little bit, but he didn’t give me any trouble,” she said.
“Sela went into action and wrangled frightened and untamed animals with grace and confidence,” O’Neil said. “It put the families leaving their homes behind at ease. They knew they were in good hands.”
At the fairgrounds, the evacuation level had risen, and families were leaving. Raisl quickly went to work helping others unload their animals.
“Again, her kind confidence really helped to calm the harried nerves of families who had lost everything,” O’Neil said. “Once the families were gone, Sela and her brother, Lewis, cleaned the cages and prepared the barn for the 70 animals we’d brought. She jumped in the trailer and carefully handed the uncaged animals out to the volunteers one at a time. She just kept going.”
When it came time to move the largest bird — a turkey weighing more than 50 pounds — Raisl walked with it carefully, then lifted it and carried it to its cage.
“And on and on she went, until all 300-plus animals in our care were safely housed, cleaned, watered and fed,” O’Neil said. “Sela has the heart of a lion.”
A pheasant on the loose
As dusk approached, the group discovered that one pheasant had escaped from the trailer. Raisl grabbed a net and set off to find it with Lewis, who is 12.
“We got lucky. We saw movement up by one of the bigger buildings,” Raisl said. “The pheasant was running between tables and boxes of fruit that had been donated. We trapped it behind the bananas. I dove and grabbed its foot as it lunged to go behind the rest of the boxes.”
After everything they had been through that day, she said, they didn’t want to lose that bird.
“I look at all these animals and I think about how they’ve been displaced,” she said. “Their owners are struggling because they might have lost their houses and their farms. It just breaks my heart to hear about these people who lost the animals they’ve worked hard to care for. We can give them a moment to relax and not stress out, because people are helping.”
Previously titled 'Heart of a lion': 4-H'er jumps in to rescue Clackamas County animals
