A man who founded a cat sanctuary to honor the legacy of his deceased son was killed, along with some 100 of the cats he cared for, in a raging fire Monday morning.
Christopher Arsenault, 65, lived on the premises of the Happy Cat sanctuary in Medford, along with about 300 cats he’d saved from euthanasia, dangerous situations and difficult lives as strays.
Firefighters were dispatched a few minutes after 7 am and it took them an hour and 20 minutes to bring the powerful blaze under control. Arsenault was able to get out of the main structure on the Suffolk County, Long Island, compound, but dashed back in to save more of his cats, according to neighbors who witnessed the fire.
The Suffolk County homicide and arson investigation squads are assigned to the case, Suffolk police Chief of Detectives William Doherty told the New York Post.
However, it can take weeks for lab results from the state police crime lab in Albany, and fire investigators will need to comb through the remains of the ruined structure and the rubble to find a point of origin.
“It’s too early in the investigation to determine any cause,” Doherty told the Post.
Arsenault “vowed to take the unwanted, discarded, homeless [cats], the ones that people were going to euthanize, he refused and he took them into his sanctuary, sometimes for no money at all,” Lisa Jaeger, a local cat rescuer who worked with Arsenault, told NBC New York. “He started the sanctuary [in 2007]. This was his life. He gave his life to save these cats.”
The sanctuary’s Facebook page was flooded with an outpouring of grief on Monday from people who knew and supported Arsenault.
“He was always so concerned about each and every single cat he had in his care. Didn’t matter how many… they were all his babies,” one distraught woman wrote. “To think he literally lost his life trying to save them breaks my heart and makes all the sense in the world that he would never leave them behind.”
Local rescuers and the county SPCA were trying to corral the surviving 200 cats on Monday. Some fled the grounds during the fire and remained unaccounted for, while others remained close to the destroyed sanctuary despite the chaos and the significant amount of activity from first responders.
Despite his efforts, Arsenault was the subject of a harassment campaign on social media from neighbors and a small group of people who alleged Arsenault wasn’t properly caring for cats. There’s no evidence to back up those claims, and Happy Cat has not been the subject of any violations.
A petition on Change.org posted last year demanded a stop to the alleged harassment of Arsenault by neighbors and a local code enforcement officer. It garnered 28,665 verified signatures.
Despite locals standing up for him, Arsenault had found a piece of property in upstate New York and was preparing to move his cats and sanctuary to that location.
John DeBacker, who participates in local trap, neuter, return (TNR) efforts, referenced the push back against Happy Cat in a post about the fire on Monday.
“Despite being harassed for months, he continued to fight for the cats,” the post read, “and I truly hope everyone can screenshot posts from one of the groups that has been harassing him in case arson is connected.”
It’s important to note that there is no evidence connecting any of the critics to the fire, authorities have not commented on the source of the fire, and any speculation about the cause is just that: speculation. It’s also important to emphasize that just because police homicide and arson squads are investigating an incident does not mean either of those crimes has taken place. Authorities won’t know anything for sure until they can thoroughly investigate the fire scene and get lab reports on evidence.
Arsenault himself said he felt compelled to respond to critics last month in a video he posted to Youtube.
“The audacity of these people to call Happy Cat sanctuary a hoarding situation, to be claiming that we’re committing animal abuse and animal neglect,” he said “The cats that I see…these are cats that are out there and have nowhere to go. These are cats that are suffering out there. And this is where sanctuaries come in … Right now [the critics are] just taking a big handful of spaghetti, and they’re just throwing it up against the wall to see what sticks to come after Happy Cat sanctuary.”
via Pain In The Bud