Philadelphia Emergency Animal Rescue Team Assists in Search for Ryce, 1 of Missing Cats from East Village Fire

Additional Photos added 4/23

The search for Ryce got the help last week of a Philadelphia-based emergency Animal Response team, unlike any in the country. Jennifer Leary, who founded Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, after being a Philadelphia fire fighter for seven years and a disaster responder for the American Red Cross for nine years, has set up a unique entity which operates primarily in Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, and has plans to expand across the country. The organization works closely with Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, Red Cross and other agencies there. Red Paw offered its services to New York City in looking for missing cat, Ryce, believed to still be located in 125 Second Avenue.

It is now almost four weeks since the explosion and fire that occurred on Thursday, March 26th; four cats remain missing and unaccounted for: Sylvie, Leather-Face, Sago, and Ryce.

This blog contacted Red Paw Emergency Relief Team for an interview and advice on the situation, and, in those discussions, founder Jen Leary offered to come to NYC with her team to help in the search for Ryce at 125 Second Avenue. 125 Second Avenue, impacted by the fire, is still intact, the other buildings, 119, 121, and 123, caught fire and were later (the next day) demolished.

NYC Agency Animal Search Efforts to Date at 125 Second Avenue

Ongoing efforts at 125 Second Avenue had been conducted by the ASPCA, reporting to the OEM (Office of Emergency Management), and working with the ACC (Animal Care & Control), primarily through looking around, the setting of humane traps in the building and powder (to detect foot prints) on the floor. There was resistance to trying to access thermal imaging camera/infrared scope and also to setting humane traps and wildlife cameras (can detect motion in the dark) outside. The ASPCA abruptly removed the humane traps from the building on Friday, April 9th, something Stuart and Kayoko Lipsky, Ryce’s owner-guardians, found out afterwards.

(Over the course of the agency involvement, the ASPCA had told residents there were no animals in the building after a quick sweep two days after the fire – within the next four days, four cats were found, two with the assistance of firefighters, the other two by the ASPCA under their guardian Kathleen Blomberg’s bed.)

The Lipskys were thrilled to have Red Paw Emergency Relief Team assist in the effort to find Ryce, working with the ACC (who deflected this to OEM which did not respond). It took a few days to make arrangements for the team to get access to the building with the help of the landlord.

Searching for Ryce with Phila-based Red Paw Emergency Relief Team

When Red Paw Emergency Relief Team came to look for Ryce on Tuesday, April 14th, Jen Leary believed Ryce might still actually be in the apartment where she lived, deeply hiding. Jen and her team worked throughout the day and went through the entire building.

Jen wrote afterwards via email of their search, “Myself and one of my responders went to NYC and thoroughly searched Ryce’s apt. We tore it apart and had a thermal imaging camera (TIC) with us. She’s not in that apt. We then ‘searched’ all the other apartments with the landlord, who would only allow us to look around with the TIC. We weren’t allowed to touch anything, so there is a chance she’s in one of the other apartments but now that all the doors are locked, she won’t be able to get out.”

She continued, “They never run towards danger or noises! She’s got to be hiding somewhere we just couldn’t get to. But, we found no evidence anywhere that she’s in there; no feces anywhere, no smell of pee, no sign of food bags being torn into, nothing that we could see.”

The Red Paw founder said, “I wish we had been able to search sooner after the incident. The owner said he saw her run into her daughter’s room but couldn’t get her in time. She was probably hiding there for days. We’ve gone into big apartment buildings days after fires in the past and the cats are always frozen in their safe places hiding. They are going to start letting people back in, so hopefully she’ll appear eventually.”

The fact that there were no smells or signs makes me (continue to) wonder if Ryce could have escaped. There still has been no searching of the courtyards behind the buildings/125 Second Avenue for Ryce or any other of the cats (something I hope still will be done — preliminary research I conducted here). Lost cat expert Kim Freeman, had noted, that, in her experience, cats will not travel beyond 250 feet, even if a building is demolished.

Although it might seem like some time has gone by, Jen told me, “We’ve found cats a month after an incident and have heard of stories of cats being found alive in an apartment building after a fire almost two months later.”

As far as any situation like this, Jen said, “Firefighters have a job to do and aren’t necessarily looking for pets, landlords and owner are usually too frazzled and upset to see things correctly. In these situations, you really need trained people with emergency response, disaster relief and search & rescue background. … Hopefully, in the coming years Red Paw will be national, since it’s a service every community needs and fills a huge gap in the emergency response scene.”

Thank you to Jen Leary and Red Paw Emergency Relief Team for their assistance. What an invaluable resource for all cities to consider, especially a large one like NYC.

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Let’s not give up hope for the other animals!

Watch this great piece on Jen Leary as one of CNN Heroes:

Jen Leary CNN Hero

You can follow Red Paw on Twitter.

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Photos : Jen Leary
except bottom photo of Ryce/Muffin: Cathryn