Turkish Van cat rescued from rubble of Turkey earthquakes after 129 days

Update a few days later! He adopted the cat. Fabulous and here is the latest image:

Below is an earlier image (a video screenshot) after the rescue. They are made for each other. I just pray that the relationship stands the test of time. 

Turkish Van cat rescued from rubble of Turkey earthquakes after 129 days. Screeshot.

The caption to the video on Reddit.com is:

The cat, which was rescued in the 129th hour of the earthquake in Gaziantep/ Turkiye, did not leave the fire crews that saved it. They named it "Enkaz" (means rubble in Turkish) . Firefighter Ali Çakas said, "If we can't find the owner, I will own it."

A lovely little video. What a couple they make: handsome guy and equally attractive cat. I think it is a PR coup by the rescue department.

If I was being a little bit cynical which I am prone to be I would think that this was a set up job! The guy is too handsome and it looks like it was a video produced by the Turkish rescue team's public relations department! Great job though. I think I might be too cynical. Perhaps the PR department got hold of it and promoted the rescue but it is genuine.

 

Technical cat breed observation

An interesting aspect of this charming little video is that the cat is a classic Turkish Van with the inverted 'V' on top of head between the ears. The cat could be purebred although he or she is not officially a purebred cat. The markings are absolutely perfect. The thing is this: this is a Turkish Van cat in Turkey. 

I suspect that the cat is not registered with a cat association but he or she will be as purebred as the most purebred American created Turkish Van cat on the continent of America. 

In fact, it could be argued that the rescued Turkish Van we see in the video is more pure and more genuine than the selectively bred versions in America because the latter are very distanced from the original Turkish vans in terms of their DNA.

Animal control officer saves 45 cats from shelter fire

NEWS AND COMMENT-LAREDO ANIMAL CARE SERVICES, TX: The reporting is a little sketchy but the story is good. An animal control officer, Jose Aranda (also reported as Jesus Aranda) has been recognised by the Laredo City Council for his quick thinking and bravery in saving the lives of 45 shelter cats from a fire at the Laredo Animal Care Services cat shelter.

Jose Aranda recognised for his bravery in saving the lives of 45 cats at the Laredo cat shelter fire. Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times.

The rescue occurred in the early part of January 2022. It was quite late at 10 PM according to the reports. Aranda was at the shelter to process some animals when he noticed smoke coming from the roof of the building in the cat shelter section.

Rather than call the fire department and wait, he took action himself. He opened the door to the shelter. There was excessive heat and smoke. He saw the cats and realised that unless he released them immediately, they would probably die.

"I proceeded to open the door and saw a bunch of cats in there, so I started releasing the cat before they got burned".

He was taken to hospital afterwards for smoke inhalation and the consequences of being exposed to excessive heat.

We don't know what happened to the cats except that they were saved and, apparently, they've not been lost. The point is that he released them but we don't know where they went to. My guess is that they went to other parts of the shelter that was safe and where there was no fire. The fire only affected the cat shelter part.

His son, Jesus Aranda Jr., was happy that his dad had saved the cats. He loves cats and they have two at home.

Aranda said that he loves his job and that if he was another person, meaning not an animal control officer he probably wouldn't have gone on to save the animals. He said that he could have waited until the fire department came. If he did that it is likely the cats would have been killed, he said.

Comment: I think that this is the largest number of cats saved from a fire. It is certainly the largest number reported in the news media over many years. I read the cat news every day as supplied by Bing News. Well done to him. It is sad to report that often in house fires the homeowner gets out but the cats die in the fire. This is a natural consequence of two things (1) cats hiding and therefore being difficult to find and (2) people prioritising, understandably, their safety before anything else.