Tenant saved five kittens from blaze that left her homeless. Two more cats survived the fire and were living in the rubble.
It took a concerned neighbour and a local cat rescue organization - both unable to find help from animal-welfare agencies - more than a week to save two cats living in the rubble of a Hamilton apartment fire that left their owner homeless.
Since June 17, the cats - two of seven in total - were left to fend for themselves after the fire rendered the building on Kenilworth Avenue North uninhabitable. Neighbour Kelly Pellegrom and Pantry for Paws sought help from local animal control agents and the provincial animal welfare agency, but no one stepped in to help.
Ultimately, they were able to capture the missing animals themselves Sunday afternoon using food and cage traps.
I'm worried about their health. And this heat is going to make it worse," Pellegrom said Friday, after failing to get help for the cats.
Pantry for Paws is now caring for most of the animals displaced in the fire.
The ordeal began when the basement unit at the building caught fire. Lynne Mitchell was alerted to the fire, not from a smoke alarm, but from the screams of her neighbours around 7 p.m.
She packed up five of her kittens into a carrying cage and put them on a ledge outside a window to get them away from the rising smoke. Firefighters soon arrived and got Mitchell and the caged cats out of the building. But at least two of Mitchell's pets were missing.
The Hamilton Fire Department says thick, black smoke poured out of the building's roof and crews had to use ladders to rescue several people who had escaped to the rooftop. An investigation into the fire has been left with Hamilton police.
Pellegrom said Mitchell came across the street to her house with a police officer and asked her to take in the animals.
I had to do something because I did not know when I would be coming back and I had nowhere to put them," said Mitchell, who is staying with family in Hamilton after being told she could not return to the building because it is unsafe. The building is still surround by police tape and has been boarded up.
Pellegrom said the kittens appeared in rough shape. She tried to bottle feed them, but they would not latch on.
I don't have the training for this, and I have to work, so I could not devote the attention to them that they needed," said Pellegrom, who turned over four of the cats to Pantry for Paws.
Mary Herbert, who runs the cat rescue, said all the cats were in need of attention. The oldest was in exceedingly poor health that appeared unrelated to the fire, she said, and is being fostered in Guelph.
The other three are currently being cared for at Pantry for Paws, but are not yet ready for adoption.
However, the two missing cats - one black and one orange - were still living in the apartment complex, said Herbert, who believes one of the cats is likely to be the mother of the kittens. The two cats recovered Sunday are in the care of the cat rescue.
Pellegrom called the city animal control unit, but says she was told they don't conduct animal rescues in circumstances like this.
A spokesperson with the unit told The Spectator their officers would not go into an unsafe building without police or firefighters, and ultimately it would be those officers who would retrieve an animal from the fire scene.
Provincial Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) is responsible for animal rescues, the spokesperson said.
Pellegrom said she has called PAWS, but the animal-in-distress call centre does not discuss ongoing incidents or investigations.
He said he was prohibited from telling me anything, but could tell me the windows (at the apartment building) were open," Pellegrom said.
The Spectator could not immediately reach a PAWS spokesperson for comment.
Mitchell, who has not yet determined her long-term living arrangements and would eventually like to have her cats back, said she had not contacted PAWS or the city.
Grant LaFleche is an investigative reporter with The Spectator. Reach him via email: glafleche@torstar.ca