Humans with hearts

Cats continue to win my heart. I now have three cats — two kittens and Pepsi. I  call the little kittens Jack and Jill. We rescued them from an empty lot near our house. I guess the kittens were dumped there by people who didn’t want to be bothered by them.

* * *

And then I just got news that the Compassion And Responsibility towards Animals  (CARA) orchestrated a rescue of a cat dumped on a ledge of the MRT rail.

I was informed that Gerard, the cat, was rescued through the joint efforts of the Mandaluyong Fire Department and the Makati Central MMDA office.

Last December, Gerard was dropped on the ledge by workers of the MRT. Since the ledge was too far from the MRT station, he could not jump back up. Worse, it was fatal for Gerard to jump down into the northbound EDSA traffic. The ledge was about 30 feet above EDSA and 20 feet from the footbridge that connects Megamall to Starmall. The ledge was in front of Megamall to the side of the footbridge that connects the two malls.

Security guards said that they saw him in the latter part of December, and that two men would occasionally throw pieces of food on the ledge for Gerard to eat.

F02 Agustin (with net) F01 Cagol, F02 Bauza, F02 Ronaldo Atanacio and SF01 Canon.

It was Gerard and Maria Jacot from France who reported the stranded cat to Nancy Cu Unjieng, president of CARA. The Jacot couple was concerned about the cat for days but could not find anyone who could help rescue the cat.

CARA contacted the MMDA, which provided a manlift and the firetruck, which they parked along EDSA. 

It was FO1 Christopher Cagol and F02 Lorienel Agustin who climbed the ladder with a basket so that they could rescue the cat and put him in the net after rescuing him from the ledge.

Gerard is safe at last.

The other kind officers who helped in the rescue were SF01 Joseph Canon and F02 Rodelio Bauza of the Mandaluyong Fire Department.

Gerard the cat is now in the good hands of CARA.

* * *

One of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) shelter animals at the Black Collar Ball held at Greenbelt 5 last week was Patch.

When rescuers saw Patch, they thought they were just going to retrieve the lifeless body of a furry dog in Sta. Mesa Heights. His body was hanging limply from a hole. To make matters worse, the dog was chained and would surely have been strangled if he lost his footing from where he was perched.

As rescuers came nearer, the body stirred and the dog managed to stand up. He ate the food offered to him hungrily and drank at least half a liter of water.

Gerard and Maria Jacot reported the stranded cat to Nancy Cu Unjieng, president, Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA).

Patch has recovered beautifully since then.

The good thing is that a few days after he was presented at the Black Collar  Ball, he was adopted by Dr. Ricardo Manalastas.

Another happy ending.

* * *

The Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF), PAWS and CARA will hold a free horse clinic in Intramuros on Jan 31, at Plaza San Ruiz from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.