Having her beloved cat Pooh Bear returned to her after losing her home in the White Lake Fire was just what the doctor ordered for one local girl.
“I live about three blocks away from them now and I have to say, I could hear the building shake when they found out about the cat,” said Terry Smith, a school bus driver who helped reunite 13-year-old Olivia Sawyer with her pet cat lost in the evacuation.
Mom, Ilonka Sawyer recalled trying to gather their two orange cats from their home on Soda Creek Road on evacuation day. They both took off and Sawyer and her daughter despaired they would never see them again.
The family’s Soda Creek home was burned down during the summer’s wildfires, leaving them searching for the pets through the devastation the fires left in their wake.
“All the houses in that area burned down so [the cats] were just sort of left wandering the area. We weren’t allowed to go back to the house for a while,” she said. “They were just wandering around for three months.”
As a schoolbus driver in the area, Smith was able to help get the word out about the missing pets. He said he mentioned it to some other kids on the bus and they were able to tell him there were some strays staying at a house down the road. Apparently, the owner of the house had posted photos of an orange cat on Facebook but since her and Sawyer weren’t friends, she didn’t see it.
When news finally did reach Sawyer and her daughter, with help from Smith, that one of their cats had been found they were absolutely elated. It was pouring rain and very dark when they went out to find Pooh Bear, the cat that Olivia had owned since he was a kitten.
“We pulled up and as soon as he heard [Olivia’s] voice, he just popped out of wherever he was hiding and came to her,” said Sawyer.
Pooh Bear has been back at home since Thursday, Oct. 12 and Sawyer says he’s a little worse for wear. “He’s pretty skittish. He’s really skinny and full of soot and his ears have been singed.”
Despite the trauma the young cat has gone through, he seems to be recovering and him and Olivia enjoy many nightly cuddles now that he’s back home safe and sound.
paige.mueller@wltribune.com
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