Alyssa Hueser may have lost her home in the Fort McMurray wildfire, however, six months after evacuating, her entire family is finally back together.
On the day of the evacuation, she arrived home to the Waterways neighborhood from work in a complete panic.
“I had time to grab my kids, grab the dog and the cats went one way and basically we went the other way and I didn’t have time to chase them,” she explained.
As the fire raged around her, she was tormented by the decision she had to make.
“What do I do? I can’t just leave them. But my kids were obviously more important than going back for my cats.”
These cats survived months in the wild after being left behind in the evacuation due to #ymmfire – their story on @GlobalEdmonton soon! #yeg pic.twitter.com/Kn8T8xBJuo
— Sarah Ryan (@SarahRyanYEG) December 2, 2016
When the family found out their house and much of their neighborhood had burned down, Hueser tried to remain optimistic.
“I just kept hoping that they weren’t there. That they did make an escape to somewhere else and they were smart enough to get away from the fire.”
Once they had been safely evacuated, Hueser tried to use social media to find her beloved cats, Ellie and Minnie, to no avail.
“We didn’t hear anything back at all. We had lost hope.”
Then, completely out of the blue, hope returned.
“Two-and-a-half months after the evacuation, I did get a phone call saying they thought they found Ellie. The cat they found had six kittens with her,” Hueser noted. “I thought, ‘No way!’”
Ellie's kittens were given to other families in #ymm that lost cats to #ymmfire – but the family kept one, named him Phoenix. #yeg pic.twitter.com/o6qMPs2iYZ
— Sarah Ryan (@SarahRyanYEG) December 2, 2016
“I was in denial until they showed up in my driveway and they opened up their truck and there she was. I didn’t have to open the cage or anything, I knew it was her.”
Ellie was in very good health, but wouldn’t let any of the volunteers touch her until she was able to see Hueser.
“I was so happy. I was in the driveway crying and everything.”
Ellie’s kittens were given to families who had lost their cats to the wildfire as well.
Hueser also decided to keep one for her girls.
“We had lost hope. My kids wanted their two cats back. It was nice to have him so Ellie wasn’t lonely anymore,” she went on to explain.
Ellie and Minnie were found 2.5 and 6 months after the #ymmfire evacuation, both were healthy, escaped fire and had kittens. #yeg #cats pic.twitter.com/ikOWFh9Uqd
— Sarah Ryan (@SarahRyanYEG) December 2, 2016
They named their kitten Pheonix, after one of the companies which helped with water bombing to save Fort McMurray.
Months later, right on Halloween, Hueser got a phone call she won’t soon forget – a volunteer looking for lost pets said she’d found Minnie, alive.
“I was like, ‘Are you serious? Are you sure?’ Because I couldn’t believe it because it had been a really long time and Minnie was only seven months when she went missing. So I just lost hope.”
It turns out Minnie, like Ellie, had also given birth to a brand new litter of kittens. Minnie was relatively unscathed having spent a half a year fending for herself.
“I’m very grateful. I’m happy they’re all home,” Hueser stated. “They’re all my babies.”
She now has just one message to anyone else from Fort McMurray that might still be missing a pet. Here goes:
“Just never give up hope. Because the worst thing you can do is give up hope. I gave up hope and ended up with another kitten and now I have three cats!”
