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Animal rescue groups across Long Island are working to recover dozens— and maybe hundreds — of cats who may have survived the fire Monday that destroyed a Medford cat sanctuary and claimed the life of its founder, Chris Arsenault.
Arsenault, 65, died Monday morning while running in and out of his burning Happy Cat Sanctuary, attempting to save the hundreds of cats he had rescued and cared for, friends said. Suffolk County police confirmed that he was found dead inside the building, along with about 100 cats who perished in the fire.
But many of Arsenault’s rescues survived, and efforts are now underway to secure them and find both temporary and permanent homes. Lisa Jaeger of Jaeger’s Run Animal Rescue, Strong Island Animal Rescue’s Frankie Floridia, and North Fork Country Kids founder Virginia Scudder are leading the effort.
‘Best man on the face of the planet’
“Chris came out and tried to put the fire out, and he went back in. And he kept taking cats out until he went back in and he didn’t come out,” Jaeger said. “We lost the best man on the face of the planet. We’re just going to need everybody’s support now to try to continue his dream.”
A flood of donations
In a Facebook post, she added, “I will say that a lot of the cats did survive, and we are doing our best to secure them.”
More than 700 donations have already flooded into the various fundraising efforts, totaling more than $40,000 for the recovery and adoption efforts.
Furthermore, emergency fosters are needed to house the surviving cats. People interested in temporarily housing one of the cats can fill out an application at northforkcountrykids.org.
Below are various options on where you can donate to support Happy Cat, including a GoFundMe effort.
Homicide detectives and arson investigators are investigating the blaze that began about 7:15 a.m. at Happy Cat, located at 12 Dourland Road.
Happy Cat Sanctuary is a nonprofit, no-kill rescue and rehabilitation center that specializes in caring for at-risk cats, including those that had been abused, neglected, or used as bait in dog fighting rings.
100 cats die in fire that razed Medford sanctuary, killing its owner
Arsenault had said that the sanctuary was planning to move to a property in upstate New York.
One of the fortunate
Top photo: Chris Aresenault (Source: GoFundMe).
