Surviving family members caught in Surfside condo collapse reunite with pet cat, Binx



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The Gonzalez family and several of their pets were in their apartment on the ninth floor of Champlain Towers South on the night of June 24 when the building suddenly collapsed in the middle of the night. At least two family members were seriously injured in the collapse, one is still missing.

Several of their pets are also missing. But on Thursday, exactly two weeks after the 12-story building fell, they tracked down one of their pets, a little black cat named Binx.

“I am happy that this little miracle can shed some light on the life of a grieving family today and can provide a bright spot for our entire community in the midst of this terrible tragedy,” said the county mayor. from Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava.

Two members of the Gonzalez family, 16 Become and her mother, Angela, were rescued after falling on the fifth floor in the collapse. Deven’s older sister, Tayler, was not in the building when it collapsed. The girls’ father, Edgar, was unable to exit the building, according to the family. Tayler quickly became the primary caretaker for their mother and sister, who are still recovering from their injuries.

The Kitty Campus, a local animal shelter, had posted flyers on its website to search for information on the family’s missing pets. Along with Binx, the family had two dogs, Honesty and Daisy, and another cat named Hippo.

Levine Cava told reporters on Friday that a volunteer found Binx near the rubble while she was feeding stray cats and believed she had recognized him. The volunteer then took Binx to an animal shelter, where the cat was identified.

The Kitty Campus wrote on Facebook that the cat was brought to their shelter late Thursday night. The next morning, the shelter wrote, one of Binx’s owners came to identify him and take him home.

Footage from the Miami-Dade Fire Department shows Tayler saying she felt “a little relieved and shocked” during her reunion with Binx. She called her mother and sister to confirm Binx’s identity and said he was responding to her name.

What we can tell you about BINX the Champlain Tours cat who survived 12 days after the building collapsed ….

Posted by The Kitty Campus on Saturday July 10, 2021

“We already had the feeling that if any of our animals were successful, it would be him,” she said. “I’m happy. It’s been a very long journey over the past two weeks.”

Gina Vlasek, co-founder of The Kitty Campus, wrote on Facebook that this should serve as a reminder to “never, never, never give up hope”.

“All we needed was a ray of hope in this tragedy,” Vlasek wrote. “Today has been one of the most amazing days.”

The Kitty Campus also posted an article on the family reunion on Facebook on Saturday, claiming the cat had been “returned to the family that had already lost so much”.



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