Nearly a week after fire tore through a southeast London home that doubles as an animal rescue, donations to care for the dozens of displaced cats continues to pour in.
Saving Animals' Lives Together (SALT), a registered charitable animal rescue, launched a GoFundMe campaign in the wake of the blaze at 68 Snowdon Cres. As of Thursday, it has raised more than $10,500 toward its $16,000 goal. The money will be used to cover vet bills and replace the organization's everyday supplies such as animal cages, pet food, kitty litter, dishes, and blankets.
"I am so overwhelmed by the support," said Bonnie Smith, who founded SALT in 2017. "There are so many good people out there, so many animal lovers. The support has been amazing."
Roughly 40 cats and three dogs were inside the duplex at 68 Snowdon Cres. last Friday morning when fire broke out in the kitchen. Smith made it out of the home without serious injury, while firefighters rescued more than two dozen of the animals upon arrival.
Four cats died in the blaze.
The surviving animals were taken to the Shaw Road Veterinary Clinic in Dorchester where some required treatment for smoke inhalation. Smith has been told she won't be able to return to her home for at least four months due to the $120,000 damage done by the fire. As such she is now relying on volunteers to foster the displaced animals.
Smith, who has faced criticism since the fire for housing such a large number of cats, noted the agency doesn't normally take in this many animals at one time.
"We took in 19 cats from one hoarding situation and then we took in another 16. These were not typical situations that we deal with, but at the time they needed to get out of their current situations right away," said Smith. "So that was the reason why we had a lot more cats than we normally do. They were all vet checked, spayed, neutered, vaccinated, micro-chipped, and de-wormed."
London has no set limit for the number of cats and dogs an animal foster home can legally take in. A 2014 staff recommendation to cap the number at ten, was quashed by city council after the public weighed in on the matter. It is a decision Smith wholeheartedly agrees with.
"If we limit fosters to ten animals than there is going to be so many animals left outside," said Smith. "The cause of this fire was not because I had the amount of animals I had. I could have had four or forty. It would have made no difference."