Cat Nabs PETA Award for Saving Guardians From Gas Leak

For Immediate Release:
February 19, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

For alerting her new guardians, Sandi and Mike Martin, to a dangerous natural gas leak inside their home, a local cat named Lilly is being honored with a Heroic Cat Award from PETA.

The Martins began fostering 3-year-old Lilly in November after she was abandoned by her previous owner, and they formally adopted her soon after. And on February 12, she rescued them back: She sniffed at the valve for their gas fireplace until they realized that there was a leak—and the gas company was able to rush to the scene and seal it before disaster struck.

“Lilly’s determination and curiosity kept a potentially tragic situation at bay,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is recognizing this heroic cat for demonstrating just how lifesaving adopting an animal can be.”

Around 70 million cats and dogs are homeless in the U.S. at any given time. An estimated 10% of them end up in animal shelters, where many must eventually be euthanized for reasons including injury, illness, old age, emotional and psychological damage, and a lack of good homes. That’s why PETA advocates for fostering and adoption and urges guardians to have their animal companions spayed or neutered—and to pay attention to what they have to say.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—is sending Lilly a framed certificate and a basket brimming with treats and toys.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.