Fire Destroys Home Of FL Cat Rescue’s President, 50+ Animals Rescued

LEALMAN, FL — Dozens of cats were rescued Friday from a devastating house fire in Lealman that killed many of an animal rescue’s president’s personal pets.

Firefighters responded to reports of several mobile homes on fire around 5 p.m., Fireground 24 Photography, which was at the scene documenting the blaze, wrote in a Facebook post.

Crews from Lealman Fire District, Madeira Beach Fire Department, Seminole Fire Rescue and St. Petersburg Fire Rescue arrived at the scene to find heavy fire coming from two mobile homes and a carport with a vehicle underneath

The property serves as the home base for Happy Tailz Cat Rescue, which serves sick, injured and special needs cats in the Tampa Bay area.

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Lealman firefighters, who were the first to arrive, went into one of the mobile homes and rescued the person inside, who was evaluated and brought to a hospital for further assessment, Fireground 24 said.

“Firefighters worked to save as many animals as they could. Despite their efforts, sadly some cats did not survive. Friends and volunteers of the rescue group showed up to transport many of the cats to a veterinary hospital,” according to Fireground 24.

Calling it “a rescuer’s worst nightmare,” more than 50 animals were pulled from the burning buildings, Happy Trailz wrote in a Facebook post.

Many were seen by a vet at the scene and eight were hospitalized in critical condition at Epic Specialty & Emergency Pet Care, where they received “round the clock care,” the rescue wrote. The others that suffered minor injuries and smoke inhalation were brought to Harmony Vet Care, where the organization’s president works, for observation and treatment.

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The president came home from working all day at the vet’s office to find her house on fire, the rescue said.

“She immediately called the fire department and then ran in to start saving kitties. Thankfully almost all made it out alive,” Happy Trailz wrote. “Unfortunately some did not make it out; we are devastated. Our president lost all but (two) of her personal pets. She was able to save all but (one) of the fosters.”

The nonprofit “lost everything” in the fire, including all supplies and food.

“This is going to take awhile to rebuild. But right now we need to focus on the babies that are still alive. We are going to have a massive vet bill from 50+ animals being seen and (eight) of them being hospitalized for an unknown amount of time,” the rescue wrote. “We certainly didn’t have the funds for this but we had to get them taken care of.”

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