Early on the morning of Jan. Thelma went missing. Anthony Ruffin and his wife, Jonni Miller, had no choice but to flee their west Altadena home as the wind-driven Eaton fire bore down on them, and they managed to herd their dog, Nan, and their one-eyed cat, Maple, out the door.
A few hours after leaving, Miller and Ruffin learned their house โ which Ruffin grew up in and had purchased from his parents โ was one of thousands that had been destroyed in their community. If Mr. Thelma had been trapped in the house, he surely had perished.
And even if he had darted away without their knowledge when they opened the door to leave, he might not have survived the inferno that incinerated much of their block and probably killed their backyard chickens.
On Jan. Thelma, I did, too. Miller and Ruffin, both social workers whose dog and two cats were formerly Skid Row strays, explained that they initially thought the cat was a girl and named it Thelma.
But Thelma turned out to be a boy, so they opted for the honorific. Read more: Fire victims seek answers about rebuilding, cleanup timeline. After weeks of grim news about heartbreak and loss in greater Los Angeles, the story of Mr. Thelma was like a brief vacation from despair. So I followed a few other leads on animal stories with happy endings.
