Year 2002
BERLIN (Reuters) - A cat has saved several people's lives by
alerting them to a fire in a German apartment block before dying in
the flames, according to police.
The cat's miaowing woke up her owner, a 42-year-old woman, who
promptly noticed smoke coming from a room in her apartment in the
western city of Essen. She called the fire brigade and alerted the
other families in the building.
"The cat definitely saved a number of lives," a police spokesman
said on Monday. "Some of the residents managed to flee the fire,
others were brought to safety with ladders."
Two people, including the cat's owner, needed hospital treatment
for smoke inhalation.
The cat was not named.
Year 2006
BERLIN (Reuters) - A cat saved the life of a newborn baby abandoned
on the doorstep of a Cologne house in the middle of the night by
meowing loudly until someone woke up, a police spokesman said on
Saturday.
"The cat is a hero," Cologne police spokesman Uwe Beier said. "Its
loud meowing got the attention of the homeowner and saved the baby
from suffering life-threatening hypothermia. [...]