A fire completely destroyed a cat sanctuary in New York, killing its founder and more than 100 of the cats he had rescued.
The fire hit the Happy Cat Sanctuary on Long Island last Monday (31). Despite the tragedy, around 150 cats survived, according to Roy Gross, head of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who is helping coordinate the rescue effort.
Unfortunately, some of the surviving animals suffered burns and were taken to local animal hospitals for treatment, Gross revealed on Tuesday. Some of them were severely injured and had to be euthanized.
Christopher Arsenault, a retired train conductor and the sanctuary’s owner, was found dead in a back room of the shelter. Suffolk County police said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Arsenault, who was 65 years old, founded Happy Cat in 2006 after his 24-year-old son, Eric, died in a motorcycle accident, according to the sanctuary’s website.
He said he found his purpose when he came across a colony of 30 sick kittens and nursed them back to health. “After my son died, those cats gave me something to do,” Arsenault told the Daily Mail in 2018.
Over the years, the shelter received several complaints from neighbors, according to Gross. But the SPCA team visited the property multiple times and found healthy, well-fed animals receiving proper care, he said.
Neighbors believe the fire was set intentionally. “I just feel in my heart […] that there was foul play. He must have upset someone,” said Cheryl Whitmore, who lived next to the Happy Cat Sanctuary for over 20 years, to the New York Post.
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