MEDFORD, N.Y. (Gray News) – A fire at a cat sanctuary on Long Island in New York killed the sanctuary’s owner and at least 100 cats Monday morning.
Officials said the fire started at about 7:15 a.m. at the Happy Cat Sanctuary in Medford.
According to WABC, sanctuary owner Chris Arsenault, 65, was killed alongside at least 100 of his cats.
Officials said there were at least 300 cats at the sanctuary and Arsenault died after he went back into the home to rescue the animals.
According to Happy Cat Sanctuary’s website, Arsenault began rescuing cats in 2006 after his 24-year-old son was killed in a motorcycle accident.
“It was at that point that Chris knew saving cats was his calling, and he opened Happy Cat Sanctuary,” the website reads.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and crews are continuing to investigate.
Suffolk County SPCA and several other local animal shelters are taking in the approximately 200 surviving cats.
Lisa Jaeger with Jaeger’s Run Animal Rescue Inc., a nearby rescue, said in a Facebook post that she was assisting in securing the surviving cats.
“I will say that a lot of the cats did survive, and we are doing our best to secure them,” Jaeger wrote. “I would like to thank all the people who dropped what they were doing and came with carriers and blankets and towels and the greatest intentions. We’re going to need everyone’s help but right now we just need your prayers for the animals that survived.”
Jaeger set up a fundraiser through the Facebook post, asking for donations.
“Today I lost my best friend and the greatest man who ever walked the Earth,” she wrote.
In an interview with WCBS, Jaeger said, “He kept going back in and out of the house to get cats out, and then he went in and he didn’t come out.”
Jaeger also set up a second fundraiser through GoFundMe.
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