Nine pets pulled from collapsed Davenport building by rescue workers

Six cats, two snakes and one lizard  were recovered from the partially collapsed building in Davenport and handed off to the Humane Society of Scott County. 

The rescues happened Tuesday afternoon, around the same time as a sweep of the The Davenport building at 324 Main St. that looked for humans still in the building. No people were found during the sweep, though five people were unaccounted for as of Tuesday morning, with two believed to be in the building. 

Staff of the Humane Society waited in front of Me & Billy to receive the animals and take them back to the shelter for safe-keeping and health checks before reuniting them with their owners.

Of the nine animals the Humane Society knew were trapped in non-collapsed areas of the apartment building, all were rescued safely. 

“It’s exciting,” Humane Society Executive Director Erika Gunn said. “(Owners) want to know when they can get to the shelter to pick up their cats, and other pets.” 

It was a slow process, with the MABAS 43 Technical Rescue Team and Davenport firefighters checking parts of the building for just over three hours.

Gunn said the society provided the fire department with the units with reports of trapped pets. At one point, a cat could be seen jumping in the window before being secured by a firefighter and brought down the fire truck ladder in a carrier, alongside other pet carriers, two glass tanks and a cloth bag holding the lizard. 

“There were a couple cats who weren’t super happy,” Development & Communications Coordinator Celina Rippel said. “I think they’ll be happy when they’re back with their owners.” 

Gunn said they knew of two additional cats that couldn’t be recovered, as they were in the part of the building that collapsed. The organization had asked pet owner to contact the society to report animals still in the building, so it may not have been aware of all trapped pets.

After the collapse Sunday evening, Gunn said she reached out to their liaison with the city of Davenport to offer the Humane Society’s help in whatever way they could. On Monday, staff worked to keep the public updated via social media and set up a form for tenants who had missing pets, not realizing at first how many there would be. 

Once Gunn heard that the city would possibly move ahead with demolition on Tuesday she reached out with information on the pets to the liaison, who recommended they keep gathering information in case an additional sweep was possible. Gunn then received information Monday morning that the fire department would be reaching out about coordinating for pet rescue. 

The Humane Society will work to provide the pet owners with anything they need, Gunn said, as their belongings cannot be recovered. She’s also seen an outpouring of support from the community. 

“We’ve already had a couple of community members reach out to say that they’re willing to donate just about anything needed for the people that are affected by this,” Gunn said.