The world learned about Scarlett’s maternal feat back in 1996. This cat would have continued to live a measured and familiar life in one of Brooklyn’s garages until, on the night of March 30, someone set fire to this old garage.
The firefighters, who promptly arrived at the call, noticed that a cat runs and runs into the burning building over and over again – each time dragging a kitten about a month old in its teeth.
Moreover, the mother cat was not given in hand, it rushed into the fire again and again, after it took the next baby to a safe place.
The cat’s ears and whiskers were burned, the paw pads were charred, the cornea of the eyes dimmed – but she threw herself into the fire five times in a row until the last, fifth kitten was safe. And she could not act otherwise – only one could fit in her teeth.
Carrying out the latter, already not seeing anything, she was convinced by touch that all five were saved (poking her face into each one) – and only after that she fell, losing consciousness.
Shocked by such dedication, the firemen promptly took the cat to the veterinary clinic, where they rescued it and left.
The New York Post published a detailed report on this event, which became the reason for a wide public campaign to raise funds for the treatment of the heroine mother.
By the way, the kittens were attached very quickly. And Scarlett, after all the medical procedures, was taken to her home by a woman named Karen Wellen, who said in an interview with representatives of the Animal Protection League that she would take care of her like her own child.
And she kept her word – the cat lived with the woman for another 13 years, no longer knowing any worries and dangers, only shuddering sometimes in a dream from the experience.
And according to the results of readers’ polls, Scarlett was recognized as the “Cat of the Century.”
No human would have been this brave.