Heroes Come in All Sizes

Reviewed by Jeanne

On March 29, 1996, firefighters responded to a fire in a garage in New York. Amid the wails of the sirens, the noise of the water hoses and the shouted commands, some of the men became aware of an unusual sound, a high-pitched noise that sounded strangely like a kitten. They began to look around and found two tiny kittens on the snow-covered ground, mewing as loudly as they could. Then they saw another kitten. . . and another. In all there were five, in a straight line from the building. The kittens smelled of smoke and some had burns. David Giannelli, one of the firemen and an animal lover, knew that the mother cat must have brought them out. He started searching and it wasn’t long before he found her, so severely burned that her eyes were swollen shut.

This mother cat had repeatedly braved heat and flames to save her kittens. Despite her severe injuries, she nuzzled each kitten, and then purred.

Giannelli called a person he knew at the North Shore Animal League who arranged for the weary firefighter to take the cat and her kittens to a vet clinic. From there, the story of the heroic cat (now called Scarlett) took on a life of its own.

It’s good to be reminded sometimes of life’s “little heroes,” found in unexpected places who do amazing things. My emotions were mixed when I learned that Scarlett had passed away in October 2008: sad for the passing of this special mother, but glad that she had lived much a longer and happier life than anyone would have expected on that snowy night twelve years earlier.

It also reminded me to re-read Scarlet Saves Her Family by Jane Martin & C.J. Suares (636.8 MAR Main). It’s a wonderful, uplifting book about Scarlett, of course, but also about the dedicated men and women who work to save animals. It’s short, less than 100 pages, but packs a lot into that space. David Giannelli wrote the introduction and his is a story worth telling as well. Telling you that the book ends with Scarlett and her surviving kittens safe in new homes isn’t a spoiler: the book is about the journey. Some of the photos will break your heart, but that last photo of Scarlett, bright-eyed and healthy, makes it all better.

If you’d like to read more about Scarlett after the book ends, there are a two good websites to visit:

http://www.animalleague.org/blogs/scarlett/2008/10/20/in-memory-of-scarlett/

This is the official tribute page from the North Shore Animal League.

http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/scarlett.html

This is a very informative UK site about cats which has an excellent article on Scarlett, including information about her later years.

Goodbye, Scarlett. You made a difference.