ESCONDIDO - Officials at the Escondido Humane Society are making a public appeal for holiday shoppers to consider adopting one of the dozens of dogs, cats and other pets being housed at the shelter while they await new homes.

The facility at 3450 East Valley Parkway has 170 adoptable animals, a number Executive Director Sally Costello said is usually high for this time of year. She also said the large population -- due in large part to last month's wildfires -- is straining the nonprofit organization's resources.

Shelter officials are hoping for a flurry of pet adoptions in the next couple of weeks, she said.

"We're hoping to capture those people who are thinking it's a really nice time at the holidays to adopt a new family member," said Costello. "We really, really need people to say, 'I'd really like to add to my family. I'd like to adopt. Let's try the Escondido Humane Society.' "

The shelter's veterinarians spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday performing a blitz of spay and neuter surgeries on new arrivals to ensure the facility has a wide variety of animals ready to go home with prospective owners.

People who are unable to adopt pets can help in other ways.

Foster parents who can provide temporary homes for one or more animals are desperately needed. The shelter is also seeking donated canned dog or cat food, towels, blankets, chew toys and other items to replenish supplies that were wiped out by a huge influx of animals from fire-affected areas and supplies that were sent to local fire evacuation centers.

Volunteers willing to exercise and play with the shelter's residents also are needed.

"We opened our doors to anyone who needed to drop off their animals so they could go to a hotel (during the fires)," Costello said. "Now we're hoping community members will open their hearts and help us."

North County was hit hard by the fires, which started Oct. 21 and led officials to order half-million San Diego-area residents to evacuate their homes. Many Valley Center, Escondido and Ramona residents escaping the flames dropped pets off at the Escondido shelter on their way to evacuation centers or hotels.

Animals found wandering in fire-affected neighborhoods also were brought to the shelter.

Some of the pets were redistributed to other shelters in a countywide network of such facilities, but the Escondido shelter ended up with 80 to 100 newcomers the week of the fires. Costello said many of the animals have since been reunited with their owners.

However, some of the pets who returned home were replaced at the shelter by animals whose owners permanently relinquished them because they had no place to keep them after losing their homes.

Add in a pre-fire population that was already higher than normal and the one-week closure of the shelter's adoption center due to the fires, and the additional animals represent a major challenge, said Costello.

Poway city employees may offer a bit of relief. The shelter provides animal control services for the city.

Poway City Attorney Lisa Foster, who helped spearhead an employee donation drive benefiting the shelter, said picking up an extra pack of paper towels, a few cans of pet food or some chew toys during holiday shopping trips or contributing old bath towels and blankets now just sitting in closets are ways just about anyone can help the facility.

"I think people are a little fatigued right now because there are a lot of causes out there," said Foster. "But these people just need things that we all have lying around the house. So (it's) easy to help them."

The Escondido Humane Society's adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Sundays. Animals currently available for adoption from the shelter can be viewed online at www.escondidohumanesociety.org.

Visit the Web site or call (800) 888-BARK for information about the facility's needs or foster program.

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.