Grant Bougaard, a firefighter from the Lakeside Fire Station, rescued a small ginger kitten while putting out a fire, saving its life with CPR.
Lakeside, Cape Town – Grant Bougaard has become a community hero for saving the life of a kitten. The Lakeside Fire Station was alerted to a fire in Heathfield and firefighters were dispatched immediately.
Upon arrival, the team saw that one of the shops was on fire and quickly started working to put the blaze out. A kitten was found during the process and appeared to be dead as it had stopped breathing for a couple of minutes.
Grant and his team refused to let the kitten go and began life-saving CPR on the small feline. Grant admits that he would never have been able to save the kitten’s life without his fellow firefighters. The little ginger kitten was worked on, and the team celebrated when it took its first breath.
When Grant had found the kitten, it looked to be about two weeks old and wasn’t moving at all. He placed his mouth over the kitten’s face and pushed air back into its lungs. The kitten started breathing again, and he quickly handed it over to the medical team on site.
The kitten was placed on oxygen and transported to a vet in Rosmead Avenue where it is said to be recovering well.
“I rushed inside and found the kitten lying on the floor. I did not think about what I did. I just scooped it up and ran out with it. I did a blow (of air) and checked for a heartbeat,” he says.
“It was faint. I ran out and handed him to my colleagues Sean Evans and Genevieve Foster.
“They did resuscitation using oxygen and worked on it. I ran back into the building to work.
“When I came out, I thought it might have died, but it was wrapped snugly in a blanket in a box, ready to be moved to the vet,”
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Grant is a hero, and the best part about the entire story is that when the little kitten is recovered and ready, Grant plans to adopt it. They have no other pets, so this will be the first in their home.
“I’m going to adopt him as soon as they give me the go ahead,”
Grant is collecting the kitten today, to take home to his family. Our hearts are so filled with love, Grant you are our hero! Thank you for saving the kitten’s life and even more so, for giving it the forever home it deserves! Stay tuned as we will do an updated story when Grant, the kitten and the family are all settled in.
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