A Chilliwack retiree risked his life by running into a half-demolished cabin to save a young orange tabby cat, the SPCA announced today.
And the building collapsed seconds after Bill Paradis finished digging the male cat out of the debris left by an industrial excavator and sprinted outside.
"I no sooner got out of the building when it came crashing down," Paradis said in an SPCA release.
Paradis, 61, has an inoperable brain tumour. He had given shelter to the tabby he'd seen around his mobile home park, and took great comfort in the cat's frequent visits to his home.
When he was watching an excavator tear through a row of dilapidated cabins last week, he heard something in the rubble, and yelled at the machine's operator to stop.
"It was a very deep whine and I could tell it was in terrible distress," said Paradis.
Paradis rushed into the cabin and dug the cat out. And only seconds later, the building collapsed.
The cat bolted. But two days later, he heard the cat in a crawl space in a neighbour's mobile home. Covered in dirt and insulation, the cat allowed Paradis to take him into his arms.
The cat -- now named "Son" -- is now being treated for hip and knee injuries, with an estimated cost of about $730 paid for by the SPCA's Biscuit Fund.
Paradis wants to adopt the cat when it recovers.
"He was a cat worth saving," said Paradis.
