Jan Hanselman
A Feline Hero
Scarlett, an ordinary-looking shorthaired cat, was not really noticed at first in the
confusion that surrounded the burning building where she had been living with her small
kittens. But Scarlett proved to be a devoted mother and hero.
Overcoming every animal’s innate fear of fire, she forced herself to go back into the
roaring flames and billowing poisonous smoke of the building and retrieve each of her
precious kittens. Five times Scarlett returned to the ferocious heart of the blaze to get
each of babies out. Scarlett’s fur was singed off and her eyes were seared shut by the
flames, and yet she managed to carry each tiny kitten to safety across the street. There
she was observed taking a head count by touch because she could no longer see them.
Firemen finally found her and realized what had happened. Much of her body had been
burned in the course of getting her kittens out. She was taken to the local animal
shelter and separated from her kittens because she could not feed them due to her
burns. After a local TV station featured her tale of heroism, the shelter received over
10,000 calls from people wanting to adopt her. A week later, she was reintroduced to
her kittens ad the joyful reunion was broadcast across the nation. Scarlett had her
kittens back at last and she licked each youngster in turn, purring happily. One of her
firemen rescuers who had dropped by to visit said, “Just to see her do that same head
count almost made me cry.”
YouTube clip of Scarlett reunited with her kittens: