Investigators are still looking for the exact cause of Monday’s fire, which claimed the life of a New York cat sanctuary founder and about 100 of its feline residents, but they now say the blaze doesn’t look suspicious.
The fire started inside the main structure at Happy Cat sanctuary, Brookhaven Fire Marshal Chris Mehrmann told local media, and investigators “cannot rule out a fire caused by propane-fed portable heaters that were in the area of fire origin.”
Happy Cat founder Christopher Arsenault, 65, was found on the second floor of the building surrounded by animals he was trying to rescue. Neighbors told investigators that they saw Arsenault emerge from the home with several cats, then dash back inside in an attempt to rescue more of the felines he cared for.
When Arsenault converted the home into a sanctuary, he cut holes in the walls and floors to create passages for the cats. Unfortunately, Mehrmann said, the fire spread more quickly because of those modifications.
In the meantime, people from the local community, the SPCA and privately run animal welfare organizations have teamed up to care for the 200 or so surviving felines. Donations have also come pouring in from all over the world, totaling more than $750,000 as of Friday morning.
More than $670,000 of the funds have come from 13,000-plus cat lovers from dozens of countries who contributed to a GoFundMe drive started by Lisa Jaeger of Jaeger’s Run Animal Rescue in nearby Port Jefferson, NY.
The surviving cats have a range of injuries, from minor sprains to life-threatening lung damage from smoke inhalation. Volunteers have spent the past several days trying to collect the traumatized animals from the vicinity of the destroyed sanctuary.
“I knew Chris well. I knew when he started. He died doing what he loved… rescuing animals,” said Robert Misseri, co-founder of Paws of War, which brought a mobile veterinary clinic to the site of the former sanctuary this week. “The very least we can do is continue his legacy and make sure that every single one [of the] cats get the proper love and care that they need to move forward.”
Veterinarians said they’ve treated lots of cats with burnt paws. Although the animals are skittish from the harrowing experience, rescues and shelters in the area are helping them find forever homes, veterinarian Jason Michael Heller told ABC News.
“We’re going to ask for our colleagues in the area here, hopefully, to take a few cats and try to get them healthy enough to be able to eat and be adopted,” Heller said.
People in the Long Island rescue community are also working on a public memorial for Arsenault, a man who dedicated his entire life to the animals in his care.
“There’s not going to be another Chris, ever, who does this,” said John Spat of Animal Protection Service, “and all we can do is try to recover what he was trying to do and try to move forward and help his organization work forward.”
via Pain In The Bud