Sunday, May 11, 2014

Scarlett The Quintessential Mom

I blog this post nearly every year on Mother's Day. To my way of thinking, Scarlett was the quintessential mom. Her story never fails to touch me. Like many single mom's today, she was completely on her own with no one to turn to, no one to help care for her babies. And she rose to the occasion This little cat risked her life over and over to save her kittens.

In March of 1996, a homeless cat (Scarlett) was raising her little brood in an abandoned garage believed to be a crack house in Brooklyn. A fire broke out and firefighters arrived to put it out. As they got the fire under control, one firefighter by the name of David Giannelli noticed a calico cat laying outside the building with her young kittens. Fur singed off, paws and ears burnt, eyes blistered shut, the brave little calico had made the trip back into the building five times until she'd gotten out all of her kittens.

Touched by her heroism, the firefighter took her and her little family to the North Shore Animal League in New York. As he carefully placed them in a box to transport them, the courageous calico, unable to see,  nudged each kitten to make sure they were all there, then collapsed.

The story of this little kitty's heroism soon spread around the world. The league received over seven thousand offers to adopt Scarlett and her kittens. At the time, I lived in Indiana and placed a call to the League to see how Scarlett was doing. I was told she'd had offers of adoption from as far away as Japan. Sadly, one of the kittens didn't make it, but the remaining four kits were adopted out to forever homes. Scarlett was rewarded for her heroism by being adopted into a family that loved and cossetted her the remainder of her days.

Scarlett died in October 2008.

Her heroism never fails to humble me. Happy Mother's Day, Scarlett.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO EACH AND EVERY WONDERFUL MOM OUT THERE WHOSE FAMILY CONSIDERS HER THEIR HERO.



13 comments:

Shelley Munro said...

What a great story! Happy Mother's day :)

Katrin said...

Such a touching story. It is so sad that one of the kittens died. :(

Pat Hatt said...

She sure was a hero in every sense of the word

CJ Kennedy said...

Mothers, yeah, they're like that. Have a Happy Mother's Day. Will you get a visit from the Grands?

DEZMOND said...

she's a true hero! My cat probably wouldn't even meow if me was on fire :)

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks, Shelley. You have a great Sunday.

Sandra Cox said...

Hi Katrin, Yes it is. I'm wondering if it was the last kitten out. Thanks for stopping by.

Sandra Cox said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sandra Cox said...

Hi Pat, Truly.

Sandra Cox said...

Hi CJ, I got to see them. Hope you have a grand Mother's Day.

Sandra Cox said...

LOL. Too funny, Dez. I doubt that:)

Rhobin said...

I show the You Tube video of Scarlett to my composition 1 classes as a writing prompt. I also do Reckless, the US Korean War warhorse. Both animals show courage, determination, and love aren't just human qualities.

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