Brad Stewart didn’t think he’d see his cat again after it scrambled from his car while his house burned down.
He and his wife had managed to wrangle Gemi, a huge grey cat with a decidedly mellow personality, and a dog as they fled their home on Laurel Road in Gatlinburg on Nov. 28. Safe from the flames, they pulled over to take a breath and get their bearings in the smoky and orange-tinged night and Gemi shot out the door.
Stewart found Gemi safe and sound on Friday — nearly three weeks after fires erupted around the city during a firestorm that originated in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — at the Sevier County Humane Society’s emergency shelter and clinic at the county fairgrounds off Old Knoxville Highway. It has provided shelter and solace and food and love to displaced pets since forest fires spread a mosaic of death and destruction late last month across Gatlinburg and Sevier County. At least 14 people died in the fires or related incidents. Hundreds suffered injuries, and many had no choice but to leave their animals behind. Hundreds of homes were destroyed. Countless pets perished.
Despite the bright moment on a bitter-cold Friday, many pets were still awaiting familiar voices and scents they may never experience again — those of their owners. The shelter housed 112 cats and dogs, increasingly a mix of fire victims and the typical stray-animal volume from elsewhere in the county. Owners have reclaimed 34 animals, brought to the shelter by citizens, animal control officers, police officers and other first responders. Fewer and fewer animals are reunited with guardians or loved ones each day.
Shelter director Michaela Sorey says she’s not surprised so few animals have been reclaimed: People who lost everything may realize they cannot support a pet and know it’s in good hands; some people don’t think to check the shelter for their animals; and, saddest of all, some of the animals’ owners might be among the dead or injured.
Most of the animals remaining at the shelter — except those being kept for emergency boarding purposes — will be available for adoption beginning early next week, upon the expiration of the shelters’ extended 14-day stray hold.
Those interested in adopting an animal should simply come to the fairgrounds: 754 Old Knoxville Hwy, Sevierville, TN 37862. Sorey says volunteers are still needed for multiple shifts and multiple chores, with preference given to those with professional animal-handling experience. Many other volunteer slots are available, however. Go to the shelter’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/SevierHumaneSociety/, to sign up.
The collection of lonely, scared and, in some cases, injured animals is a pageant of heartbreak and sadness. But there were bright spots Friday, nine days ahead of a Christmas that looms bleak for many.
Brad Stewart, the owner of vanished Gemi, and his wife returned on Friday afternoon from Stewart’s native West Virginia, where they stayed for a spell to take stock of their lives and their losses. The first thing they did when they got back to Gatlinburg was go to the area where Gemi fled from the car.
“The first house I knocked on, he said he took him to the fairgrounds,” Stewart said.
It appears Gemi skulked about the nearby house for a few days before his savior, who had fed and watered him, took him to the shelter on Dec. 7, a week after the fires. “I shook his hand and said ‘thanks, you saved his life,’” says Stewart, who plans a greater show of appreciation for the stranger who took in his cat.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Stewart repeated several times as pleased shelter workers helped him complete paperwork before taking Gemi home. “I didn’t think I’d see him again.”
Sorey asked what he needed for Gemi, and the answer was: “I’ll take everything you can give me.” She obliged — no charge. Soon after Gemi was spirited away in high spirits to what will likely be an erstwhile but happy home, a man collected the mayor of Gatlinburg’s dog, which had been recovering from burned paws since he and his brother were found wandering Ski Mountain after the fire destroyed Mayor Mike Werner’s home.
But many dogs — and cats — remain left behind. Sorey says some dogs adjust well and adapt to new environments within three days as their stress hormones decrease. Others exhibit stress, and pine and pine and retreat into sleep and wait, sometimes fruitlessly, for their humans.
“Some dogs,” Sorey says, “never get over it.”
Knox County-based journalist Thomas Fraser is a native of Charleston, S.C. who grew up in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and has worked as an editor and reporter for daily newspapers and websites in Tennessee, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia.
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