Scarlett, the cat that saved kittens from 1996 Brooklyn fire, dies

Scarlett the cat, a calico hero who drew worldwide acclaim after rescuing her five kittens from a 1996 Brooklyn fire, has passed away.

The aging cat - believed to be at least 13 years old - succumbed to multiple illnesses, leaving behind the sad Brooklyn family that adopted her after the blaze.

"She was the most precious and loving cat, and in our household, it was all about Scarlett," said her owner, Karen Weller.

Scarlett's ascension to stardom began in an abandoned Brooklyn garage, where she was tending her litter of five when a fire broke out in March 1996.

Firefighters spotted Scarlett, despite burns to her eyes, ears and face, toting each kitten out of the building to safety. Once outside, Scarlett nudged each baby with her nose to make sure she found all five.

The hero cat was taken to the North Shore Animal League with her offspring - and their story soon attracted attention from around the globe.

Calls about the fearless feline's health came in from Japan, the Netherlands and South Africa, while other admirers sent Mother's Day cards to Scarlett.

She became the main character of a book, "Scarlett Saves Her Family," and received mentions from Oprah Winfrey and CNN.

In her new Brooklyn home, Scarlett was top cat. Four of her five kittens survived the blaze and they were adopted in pairs.

Scarlett died on Oct. 11, after battling kidney failure, a heart murmur and lymphoma, Animal League officials said.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Please accept this in the name of Pixie and the others I have lost.

Pixie, 1992 - 10-02-2008

Firefighter David Giannelli transported the little feline family to North Shore Animal League America where the mother, who was named Scarlett, and her kittens, were treated. The weakest of the kittens died of a virus one month after the blaze. However, after three months of treatment and recovery, Scarlett and her surviving babies were ready for adoption.

In the flurry of worldwide media attention to the heroic feline mother and her family, the Animal League received more than 7,000 inquiries about adopting Scarlett and her brood. Ultimately, the kittens were adopted in pairs and Scarlett herself was adopted out to Karen Wellen, whose story of losing her own cat, shortly after an accident in which she herself was injured, struck a chord at the Animal League. Wellen said her experience made her a more compassionate individual, and, if ever she was to adopt another cat, she wanted to devote herself to one with special needs.

Once in Wellen's care, Scarlett continued to be a media darling, capturing the attention of regional, national and international outlets as far away as Japan, and including the most powerful voices of CNN and Oprah Winfrey. She was the subject of numerous books and articles and appeared in the first aired segment of Animal Planet. She was even honored by Great Britain's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Living in Wellen's Brooklyn home, Scarlett was a cherished family member, given run of the house and abundant love.

For those of you (like me) who spend time with shelter and rescue animals, I thought I’d share another Rainbow Bridge story (not mine):

Unlike most of the sun filled days at the Rainbow Bridge, this particular day dawned cold and gray, damp as a swamp and as dismal as any day could be imagined. All of the recent arrivals had no idea what to think, as they had never ever experienced a day like this before. But..... the animals who had been waiting for their beloved people, knew exactly what was going on and started to gather at the pathway leading to The Bridge..........to watch.

It wasn’t long before an elderly animal came into view, his head hung low,so very low, and his tail dragging. The other animals, the ones who had been there for a while, knew what his story was right away, for they had seen this happen far, far, too often. He approached slowly, very slowly, and was obviously in great emotional pain, but with no sign of injury or illness.

Unlike all of the other animals waiting at The Bridge, this animal had not been restored to youth and made healthy and vigorous again. As he walked toward The Bridge, he watched all of the other animals watching him. He knew he was out of place here and the sooner he could cross over, the happier he would be. But, alas, it was not to be. As he approached The Bridge, his way was barred by the appearance of an Angel who sadly apologized to him, and then told him that he would not be able to pass. Only those animals who were with their people could pass over to the Rainbow Bridge.

With no place else to turn to, the elderly animal turned towards the fields before The Bridge and saw a group of other animals like himself, also elderly and infirm. They weren’t playing, but rather simply lying on the green grass,forlornly staring out at the pathway leading to The Bridge. And so, he took his place among them,watching the pathway and waited.

One of the newest arrivals at The Bridge didn’t understand what he had just witnessed and asked one of the animals that had been there for a while to explain it to him.

“You see, that poor animal over there, with the others, they are rescues. He was turned in to rescue just as you see him now, an older animal with his fur graying and his eyes clouding. Sadly, he never made it out of rescue and passed on with only the love of his rescuer to comfort him as he left his earthly existence. Because he had no family to give his love to, he has no one to escort him across The Bridge.”

The first animal thought about this for a minute and then asked, “So what will happen now?” As he was about to receive his answer, suddenly, the clouds parted swiftly, and the gloom lifted with a mighty wind. Approaching The Bridge could be seen a single person and among the older animals, a whole group was suddenly bathed in a golden light and they were all once again,young and healthy, just as they were in the prime of their life.

“Watch, and see,” said the second animal. A second group of animals from those also waiting came to the pathway and bowed their heads ever so low as the person neared closer. As each bowed head, the person offered a pat on their head or a scratch behind the ears.

One by one, the newly restored animals fell into line and followed him towards The Bridge. And then, one by one, they all crossed The Bridge together.

“What just happened?” asked the first animal. “That was a rescuer. The animals you saw bowing to the rescuer in respect were those who found new homes because of all their work. They will all cross over to The Bridge, when their new families arrive. Those you saw restored were those who never found homes. When a rescuer arrives, they are allowed to perform one, final act of rescue. They are allowed to escort all those poor animals that they couldn’t place on earth across The Rainbow Bridge.”

“I think I like rescuer’s,” said the first animal. “So does GOD,” was the reply from the second animal, “so does GOD.”

Man — a rational animal — can, for the sake of others, overcome his reason. Reason tells us that marching into a fire is bad, not just because being burned hurts, but because it can kill us, and getting killed is bad.Yet history is replete with stories of parents rushing into flame, flood, and falling debris to rescue their children. Indeed, on many occasions human beings have acted against all reason and risked their lives to save the children of other people — or even total strangers.

In such cases, man transcends mere humanity: he becomes something more than man. He becomes a Hero.

But animals fear fire at the deepest of levels: instinct. No mere animal would walk into a fire merely to save its offspring — certainly not a cat, an fecund animal which would have little trouble replacing five interchangeable kittens.

Yet, in the case of Scarlett, this is precisely what happened.

Why? No force on Earth could motivate the average cat to ignore a zillion years of instinct and walk into an inferno — yet firefighters on the scene saw Scarlett choose to do exactly that. Although the abandoned building was totally engulfed in flames, she re-entered five times, and despite burns to her eyes, ears and face, she kept going back inside, each time carrying a kitten out of the burning building to safety.

According to her obituary, "Once outside, Scarlett nudged each baby with her nose to make sure she found all five." She had to, since the fire had blinded her.

Again: why? Scarlett was nothing special — no evolutionary supercat. Yet this most ordinary cat — a stray, like any of a million strays in New York — risked her own life to save those of her kittens.

By choosing to do so, I believe that Scarlett transcended instinct, and by a sort of Reason was transformed into something greater and higher than Cat.

And what is it that allows a man to transcend Reason, and this cat to transcend Instinct? Certainly nothing of this world. Aunty Ayn, she tell us dat Altruism be evil; Unca Charles, dat dere can be no evolutionary advantage to altruism. Risking one's life for the sake of others is counterproductive from the standpoint of evolution. The successful member of a given species is the one that runs like hell from fire and lives to breed another day, amirite?

No. I believe something — or Someone — takes a hand in such cases.

Call it love. Just as love can work upon a human heart to raise a man to something greater than himself, I believe that love — or, in this case, the feline equivalent of love— was at work in the heart of Scarlett the cat, making her for that moment something far more than an ordinary feline.

And God, as everyone knows, is love.

So tonight, we raise a glass in toast to a heroine cat, a cat who became for one brief shining moment something more than skin and bone and muscle and fur. Tonight, we drink to the long life and happy passing of Scarlett Cat. May she be an example to us all.

Freya is calling, Scarlett. Valhalla opens its doors to you.

Good kitty.

***

Note: The North Shore Animal League has created an award named the Scarlett Award for Animal Heroism in her honor. This award is presented to animals that have engaged in heroic acts to benefit others, whether humans or animals.

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