The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘It’s devastating to these kids’
Owner mourns loss of 60 therapy animals that died in Prospect fire
PROSPECT — The sole survivor of a Friday barn fire that left 60 therapy animals dead was a feral farm cat.
Kelly Cronin and her son had slowly taught the cat to be comfortable with som ehu man contact, and after the fire she assured her son that the cat had made it out alive.
“He loves that cat. I’m like, ‘If that cat didn’t get out of the barn, it’s the stupidest animal that I own,’ ” Cronin said. “It did. It came back. It was probably traumatized, so it didn’t come back ’till late afternoon yesterday. But it’s back.”
The rest of the animals, including chickens, minidonkeys, mini-horses, calves, sheep, goats, alpacas, turkeys, alpacas and bunnies, perished in the blaze.
Cronin’s son woke her up around 11:20 p.m. Friday, telling her the barn was on fire.
“My oldest son and I ran down and he kicked the door and I tried to get in and he goes, ‘Mom, you can’t.’ He goes, ‘They’re gone. They’re gone,’ ” she recalled through tears. “If it wasn’t so devastating, it was the most beautiful scene you’ve ever seen. The flames were up to the sky. It was insane.”
Cronin and her family run a traveling petting zoo called Farm on Wheels, and Kelly’s Kids, an organization that works with children in the care of the state Department of Children and Families. The children work with and care for the animals, mucking all the stalls and milking and feeding the animals as they need.
She said it gives the children “purpose.” The animals need the kids, Cronin said, as much as the children need the animals.
“These kids have a purpose. They know that we need them,” she said.
“Once they feel that they’re needed, you can see a dramatic change.”
Cronin said the children have felt the loss of the animals as much as she has, saying it’s “devastating.” She knows how effective caring for animals can be. Years ago, when working in the social work field, many of Cronin’s colleagues were,
themselves, in therapy.
“They’d say to me, ‘Do you go to therapy? I go, ‘No, I just go to the barn,’ ” she said. “Got home from a bad day at work and you’d go in and they’d be happy to see you. They needed me and I feel bad I couldn’t help him. That’s what’s killing me.”
Friday was cold, and the wind was high so Cronin
set up heat lamps in the barn so the animals would stay warm .Awarm red glow from the lamps is visible in photos taken that afternoon.
But there was no wind in the barn, and the heat lamps were set high enough to be out of the way of an errant hoof or wing.
“I’m assuming that one of the heat lamps must have fell. I don’t know. The fire marshal’s looking into it. That’s kind of where he’s going with it, too,” Cronin said. “I can’t think of any other cause.”
“I wanted to keep them warm. I went overboard,” she said.
Cronin’s family has owned land, which she called a homestead, on both sides of the road for decades. The pigs that live across the street along with bunnies and chickens and ducks snuffled happily, curiously inspecting reporters as they arrived.
Days after the fire, children in the care of DCF arrived for their usual chores. Kelly’s Kids, Cronin said, will survive. A GoFundMe set up by supporters had raised more than $90,000 by Monday evening.
“It’s devastating to these kids to have to deal with this,” she said. “Farm on Wheels and Kelly’s Kids is both gonna benefit from all the support that we’re getting. I just want people to understand that,” she said.