Bev Parent's sister urges everyone to make donations to Aid to Animals in Distress

Animal Advocates Watchdog

In Response To: Woman in Critical Condition after Fire ()

WESTCOAST NEWS
Burned cat-rescuer dies after being removed from life support following blaze in her apartment

Vancouver Sun

Friday, October 14, 2005

VANCOUVER - There was much more to Beverly Parent's life than cats, but, in the end, it was the cats that really mattered.

"She lived for her cats -- that was almost all she could talk about," Marnie Gharrett, Parent's sister, said in an interview Thursday afternoon. Only hours earlier, a badly-burned Parent was removed from life support at Vancouver General Hospital. She died shortly before noon.

Parent, 50, suffered burns to more than 80 per cent of her body after a fire swept through her Surrey apartment early Wednesday morning. Fifty-nine of Parent's 70 cats -- all rescued from the street -- were also killed in the blaze.

Gharrett said Parent's body will be cremated, and her ashes spread at an undisclosed location along with the ashes of many of the cats she loved.

"She would want to be with her cats," Gharrett said.

Parent was a respected member of the Lower Mainland's animal rescue community. For more than a decade she volunteered her time with various local animal organizations, helping to trap and care for stray and abandoned cats. Parent also ran her own cat shelter from her apartment, rescuing cats and kittens from the streets, spaying and neutering the animals and then adopting them out.

Gharrett said her sister learned to love animals early, having grown up with several cats and dogs.

"Right from the start, she had a total love for animals," Gharrett said. "She loved all animals, not just cats and dogs."

Friend Maria Soroski said those who worked with Parent in animal rescue are devastated by news of her death.

"We're all in shock," Soroski said.

Soroski said friends are now focusing their efforts on recovering the 10 or more cats that escaped the apartment fire. If located they will be found new homes, she added.

In lieu of flowers, Gharrett encouraged friends of her sister to make donations to the organization Aid to Animals in Distress. Memorial plans are being made.

Friends are also hoping to set up a trust fund in Parent's name, with the money to be put towards spaying and neutering abandoned and feral cats. Parent is survived by her sister, Gharrett, and her mother, Olivia Planidin.