Posted on: March 31, 2025 03:37 PM

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He lived for cats only on Long Island

This morning around 7am, a fire broke out at Happy Cat Sanctuary on Dourland Road in Medford resulting the death of the owner and around 100 cats, Suffolk County police confirmed.

Chris Arsenault was pacing back and forth to remove the cats during the fire. One of the volunteer say, "He kept going back in and out of the house to get cats out, and then he went in and he didn't come out.” as told to the media today.

Several residents also helped to remove the other cats around 200 to safety. There were more than 300 cats in the sanctuary, which rescues felines that protects felines from ‘abuse, hoarding, and neglect’.

This was from Chris's website,

“Chris has dedicated his life to the rescue and care of hundreds of cats. Chris started rescuing in 2006 after his 24-year-old son Eric lost his life in a tragic accident when the throttle on his motorcycle stuck. After this devastating loss, Chris accidentally came across a cat colony of 30 sick kittens. He removed the kittens from the colony and nursed them back to health. It was at that point that Chris knew saving cats was his calling, and he opened Happy Cat Sanctuary."

Chris was in the process of moving to upstate to a bigger place for the cats. More than 100 volunteers are on the scene helping with the cats. Chris will be missed.