A pet shelter proprietor and approximately 100 pet cats have actually passed away in a fire on Long Island, according to authorities.
The fires burst out at about 7:15 a.m. on Monday at Delighted Pet Cat Shelter in Medford, according to the Suffolk Region Authorities Division. At the time of the fire, 300 pet cats were housed in the shelter, according to the Save The Animals Rescue Structure.
Once the blaze was snuffed out, cops claimed they discovered the proprietor of the shelter, 65-year-old Christopher Arsenault, deceased in the home.
In this display grab from a video clip, a framework is revealed shed after a fire at the Delighted Pet Cat Shelter, in Medford, Long Island, on March 31, 2025.
WABC
At the very least 100 pet cats passed away in the fire, Conserve The Animals Rescue Structure claimed.
Arsenault tried to snuff out the fires, taking pet cats far from the fire up until “he returned in and he really did not appear,” according to Lisa Jaeger, owner of Jaeger’s Run Pet Rescue.
” We shed the most effective male on the face of the earth, we’re simply mosting likely to require everyone’s assistance currently to attempt to proceed his desire,” Jaeger claimed in a message on social media sites.
Jaeger claimed that “a great deal of the pet cats did endure and we are doing our ideal to safeguard them.”
Jaeger’s company, Suffolk Region SPCA and various other neighborhood pet teams are helping in the rescue of the enduring pet cats, with several experiencing burns and breathing distress, according to Solid Island Pet Rescue.
Authorities claimed the source of the fire continues to be under examination.
In this display grab from a video clip, a pet cat is revealed strolling amongst particles after a fire at the Delighted Pet Cat Shelter in Medford, Long Island, on March 31, 2025.
WABC
John Altercation, the owner of Save-A-Dog Pet Defense Solution, claimed in a declaration that Arsenault was “among the kindest human beings to occupy this Planet.”
” He simply acquired 30 acres upstate to make the U.S.A.’s ideal pet cat shelter. He was presently relocating the pet cats up there. He never ever reached see his desire,” Altercation claimed.
Arsenault started saving pet cats in 2006 after his 24-year-old boy Eric “shed his life in an awful mishap when the throttle on his bike stuck,” according to the sanctuary’s website.
After the fatality of his boy, Arsenault discovered a nest of 30 ill kitties, eliminated them from the swarm and “nursed them back to wellness,” the site claimed.
” It went to that factor he recognized conserving pet cats was his calls, and he opened up Delighted Feline Shelter,” the not-for-profit’s site claimed.
