Willoughby Fire Department Receives PETA Award for Rescue of Cats, Kittens

Second Time in Three Years That Agency Is Recognized for Heroics; Group Offers to ‘Fix’ Felines Free of Charge

For Immediate Release:
July 16, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Willoughby, Ohio — On July 10, the Willoughby Fire Department responded to a blaze in an apartment on Euclid Avenue. The residents managed to escape, but their two cats—one of whom gave birth to two kittens during the fire—remained inside as smoke filled the apartment. Firefighters pulled both adult cats and the newborn kittens to safety. All are doing fine.

For its heroic efforts to save the animals, the Willoughby Fire Department will receive PETA’s Compassionate Fire Department Award.

This isn’t the first time that PETA has recognized the department. In 2010, it also received a PETA award for using forced entry to gain access to an apartment on fire with a dog trapped inside.

“The firefighters of the Willoughby Fire Department are truly heroes because they don’t consider their job done until all residents—humans, cats, and dogs alike—are no longer in harm’s way,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “The department is also a perfect role model for showing the importance of always coming to the rescue of an animal in need.”

PETA has offered to sterilize the cats, free of charge, in order to cut down on the overwhelming number of homeless animals. Since their inception in 2001, PETA’s mobile clinics have helped to prevent the births and inevitable suffering of hundreds of thousands of unwanted dogs and cats in Virginia and North Carolina, all through no- to low-cost sterilization surgeries. In one year, an unspayed cat can give birth to 16 kittens, who can go on to reproduce in just four months.

The Willoughby Fire Department will receive a framed certificate, a letter of appreciation, and a box of vegan chocolates from PETA.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.