Mother of the Year: Scarlett the Cat

Scarlett and her five kittens rest after their ordeal by fire

I came across this touching photo, and it intrigued me so much, that I did a little research into it's background.

As it turns out, it was from a very well known story of the day. The large cat is Scarlett, and those are her five kittens. Scarlett was to be known as: The Mother of the Year 

March 30th 1996
Brooklyn New York

The scene: an abandoned garage on fire. The attending firemen notice a mother cat leaving the structure carrying a small kitten in her mouth. She did this for a total of five times before finally, she collapsed unconscious. 

Scarlett had rescued each of her kittens. 

.....but she was badly burned. Her fur singed or completely burned off. Her eyes were blistered shut.

Firefighter David Giannelli took the family to a veterinary clinic of the North Shore Animal League, where they would spend the next three months convalescing ( unfortunately, the little white kitten caught and died of a viral infection ).

heroic Scarlett

I have no words to describe the above photo.....Scarlett is so badly injured and yet is still feeding her little ones!

Here is a short video thumbnailing the story

Scarlett, after being adopted with her new owner Karen Wellen

Her surviving four kittens were spit into two pairs and adopted out to two lucky families, from the 7000 + applicants!!!

Sadly, due to illness, Scarlett would pass away on October 11th 2008

In honor of Scarlett's memory, the North Shore Animal League Organization has created The Scarlett Award for animal heroism.

Thanks To:

• Petfinder.my

• Sad Useless

• Wikipedia