Kittens rescued from Tullamore fire

The Offaly Branch of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) are to embark on a programme of trapping and neutering stray cats in the Tullamore urban area following the rescue of four kittens from a fire in the derelict Tesco store in the centre of the town on Saturday evening last.

The four kittens, estimated to be no more than five weeks old, are currently being looked after by volunteer foster carers and all are said to be doing “extremely well” despite their terrifying ordeal.

The kittens were found by members of the Offaly Fire Service huddled together in a corner of the old Tesco building and were immediately transferred to the care of the OSPCA.

Despite an extensive search in the old Tesco store, no trace of a mother cat for the abandoned kittens has been located, and the OSPCA have confirmed that they are to embark on a programme of trapping and neutering stray cats in the area of the fire over the coming weeks.

Shirley, a volunteer with the Society for the past 15 years, confirmed that they have a total of 70 kittens in foster care at the moment who are waiting to be permanently homed. “That is the biggest number I have seen over the past 15 years, so we would urge all cat owners to have their cats neutered in an effort to prevent such big numbers of kittens being abandoned.

Last year alone, the OSPCA neutered over 1,000 cats, and they maintain that this is the only effective means of reducing the numbers of abandoned kittens.

Shirley paid a warm tribute to the many volunteer fosterers in Offaly who look after abandoned kittens and said were it not for their “selfless care and love” it would not be possible to permanently home them. “Because we don't have a shelter we depend completely on our voluteer fosterers to look after the kittens for us, and they do a brilliant job, we have one volunteers who currently has seven cats in her care!”

The four kittens rescued from the old Tesco store, two males and two female, will remain with their foster families for “at least the next four weeks” according to Shirley, until they have been weaned onto solid food.
The OSPCA have attributed the miraculous rescue of the four kittens on Saturday last to the fact that they remained at ground level in the building during the fire. “There was a huge amount of thick black smoke and the Fire Service had to wear breathing apparatus, but we feel the kittens survived because they were at ground level and would have remained underneath the smoke, even though they had watery eyes and were a bit sooty when we received them” said Shirley.

As of yet the four adorable kittens have not been named, but there have been plenty of suggestions from members of the public, including one aptly suggesting that the only black kitten among the four should be given the obvious name of “Sooty!”

Tullamore Gardai say that inquiries are ongoing regarding the cause of the fire at the derelict store.