Most parents believe that they would do just about anything for their children. Time and time again, this has proven to be absolutely true.
That being said, not every parent is forced to go through the ultimate test for their kids. Would they really risk life and limb for their offspring if need be?
Apparently, this question stands in the animal kingdom the same way it does in the human realm. When one mother cat was trapped in a blaze with her five kittens, she was put to this very test. Did she follow her maternal instincts? Or did choose self-preservation instead?
There isn’t a single creature on Earth that doesn’t possess some sort of instinct to survive. It’s safe to say that self-preservation is the very thing that guides all animals through the vast majority of their decisions. This goes for both humans and animals.
Regargia / Wikimedia Commons
For instance, all animals have a natural and intuitive fear of fire, and they try to avoid it as much as they can. It can do some serious damage to them, after all, and every living thing is imbued with this knowledge from birth.
Ernie / Pixabay
So it goes without saying that, when an animal feels the heat from a nearby flame, it would instinctively run in the other direction. However, one mother cat did something that proved there was still at least one instinct in the animal kingdom stronger than self-preservation: a mother’s instinct to protect her young.
patticake1601 / Pixabay
The mother cat, named Scarlett, and her five small kittens had been taking shelter in an abandoned building in Brooklyn, New York, when a terrible fire started. The situation looked grim for the little feline family, and the clock was ticking on their escape.
Scarlett had an opportunity to escape the fire and save her life, but her kittens were far too small to make it out on their own. Scarlett then did something incredibly brave: she walked through the blazing fire five times, rescuing each of her kittens one at a time. She risked it all to save her offspring—but would Scarlett be able to survive after her ordeal?
When some local firefighters finally arrived on the scene, Scarlett was barely hanging on. As most people could probably imagine, walking through the fire so many times took a terrible toll on her small body.
After carrying her kittens to safety, she was seen touching each of them with her nose to ensure they were all there and alive; the blisters on her eyes kept her from being able to see them. Immediately after she confirmed her kittens were safe, Scarlett collapsed, unconscious.
Scarlett and her kittens were promptly taken to a nearby veterinary clinic by one of the firefighters who had fought the blaze. There, they were treated for three long months until they were well enough to be adopted.
A staff member at the veterinary clinic said that Scarlett was “spoiled rotten and treated like a queen” during her time in their care. It was a setup she well-deserved, considering everything that she had been through and what she did for her babies!
Most animals would know better than to risk their lives by running back into a burning building, but this mother kitty knew it was worth it if it meant her kittens would be safe!
What a brave little cat! It looks like she used a few of her nine lives to save her babies!
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