UPDATE: Dennis Stock has discovered a third cat dead and is now only searching for Stormy.
Dennis Stock is devastated.
He discovered two of his cats perished in the Brown Street fire and is trying to keep up hope that his other two kitties will still be found alive.
Stock is still wandering around the area with a bag of treats hoping that his other two cats, Tiny and Stormy, will crawl out from under the debris into his waiting arms.
Stock’s cats were living with a friend in a house just east of the Edge on Edge 3 condo building at Edge and Brown Streets that burned to the ground in a massive fire on June 9.
His friend’s house was also heavily damaged in the fire, with nothing much left, said Stock.
Stock was in Port Coquitlam at the time of the massive fire that displaced hundreds of residents, and hopped on a bus with two cat cages to get to the scene as fast as he could.
“Here I’m thinking I’m going to find them a couple doors down or something and they’ll come running up to me,” he said.
He spent the entire night walking around searching for them and all of the next day.
Then on June 21, two of his cats were discovered dead in what remains of the house.
Sunny was found in the living room, under some stereo equipment that collapsed on her, about two feet from the front door.
“I found Bear. He was on his back underneath the back door,” he said, and thinks he might have been rolling around in agony when he died.
RELATED: Maple Ridge Community Foundation leads relief efforts for fire victims
Now he is searching for his other two cats – at night because it is quieter and he believes there is more of a chance they will come out of hiding. He walks the streets, banging a bag of treats and using a flashlight to investigate noises in the bushes.
Stock said he has to be hopeful that he will find Tiny and Stormy alive.
“Words cannot describe the loss, despair, and self-hatred I feel right now. The only thing keeping me going is that we have not found Tiny or Stormy, so there is some hope,” he said.
“The true opposite of happiness is the complete and utter absence of any hope,” said Stock and he said if he can’t find his cats alive he doesn’t know how he is going to get through it.
Stock is helping his friend shovel, carefully, through charred wood, looking for any mementos that can be salvaged from the house.
ALSO: Third of four Edge condo buildings burns during construction
“A man’s entire 42-year working life’s destroyed possessions looking for but dreading finding my unwavering, loving, and special kitty friends, my guys,” he said.
He is offering a reward for both Tiny and Stormy if anyone finds them alive.
“If I can’t find them I’ll break. I’m hanging on by a thread that grows ever frayed with each passing moment and shovelful,” he wrote online.
Stock said volunteers with the Canadian Disaster Response Team, CDART, a volunteer-based organization dedicated to animal welfare in times of a disaster or emergency, had been helping him and others locate their pets. Volunteers from the organization have taken the bodies of his cats and will be cremating what remains of them for free for him.
Kahlee Demers, branch manager of the BC SPCA in Maple Ridge said reports of stray cats are slowing down and they are still providing pet food for people in need from the fire from their food bank program.
Shortly after the fire, Demers was receiving more than 20 calls a day of stray animals in the area.
Two dogs that were placed in emergency boarding at the facility, will hopefully be reunited with their owners soon, she said.
Cash donations are being accepted by the Maple Ridge Community Foundation, that will be spearheading relief efforts through the Community Network program.
Anyone wishing to donate can do so at mrcf.ca.
Stock said if he ever has a chance to give back he will be donating to CDART.
For more information about CDART go to cdart.org.
Have a story tip? Email: cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
