Hearts around the world broke after learning of the tragic Surfside condo collapse in Miami, Florida. And while emergency crew efforts turn into a recovery mission, the devastating death toll rises. But there has been a small miracle found near the rubble of the site, more than 2 weeks later. It was in the form of the Gonzalez’s family cat who had been living in the condo building.
Probably the luckiest black cat that there ever was! Albeit, likely with one less of his 9 lives.
Photo: @Mirandaxann
Because this lucky black cat named Binx had lived on the 9th floor of the now destroyed condo!
The happy news was announced on Friday by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“After 16 long and extremely difficult days, I’m happy to be able to share a small piece of good news,” Levine Cava told reporters. “Binx, a cat living on the ninth floor of Champlain Towers South, was recently found near the site, and a few hours ago he was reunited with his family.”
And the Gonzalez family truly needed this miracle to bring joy to their lives. Because at the time of the tragedy, most of the family was in the building.
On Thursday June 24th at around 1:30AM, Angela Gonzalez and her daughter, 16-year-old Deven, were in their apartment on the 9th floor of the Champlain Towers-South building in the city of Surfside, Florida when the residential building partially collapsed. Mother and daughter fell from the 9th floor to the 5th floor where Angela sustained severe injuries. Despite these injuries, she was still able to pull Deven from the rubble and the two were among the first people rescued from the rubble.
Unfortunately, Angela’s husband and Deven’s father, Edgar Gonzalez, remains among the missing.
As FEMA crews and volunteers continued to sift through the wreckage for any signs of life, they came upon the solo black cat.
It was on the twitter account of volunteer @mirandaxann that a black cat had been spotted hanging out around the area.
Fortunately, they were able to grab the once sleek house panther and get him to safety. They took Binx to The Kitty Campus, a nearby animal organization who could care for the feline. Even though he was found near the site, they weren’t sure if he was involved in the catastrophe.
Gina Nicole Vlasek, the co-founder of The Kitty Campus, posted of the recovered cat on their Facebook page. She had been sharing photos of the lost pets of the condo, trying to help anyway she could. And even though black cats can be extremely difficult to distinguish from one another, she knew there was something familiar about this boy.
The story played out on the post shared to another rescue group started for missing condo pets; Rescue the Surfside Cats – Mia & Coco.
Beatrice Winkler – Yesterday Patricia Villatoro
forwarded the post from Miranda to our group and something inside of me told me it is “Binx” …. so I informed a friend of the Gonzalez family right away. The friend forwarded the photo to the daughter of the family and today got in touch with me and asked me to please hold “Binx”. They are pretty sure it’s Binx and asked me for the contact info of the lady so she can contact her. I cried … I was so happy …and waited eagerly for the good news.
Ana Campos– I was told that Binx was driven to see Mom Angela in the hospital. I was told Binx appeared after the demolition. This is not confirmed but was from a reliable credible source. Binx was nearby and appeared post demolition without a scratch. She acted in an interesting way. She kept inspecting an area of the rubble and wouldn’t leave the rubble area. Their unit 904 was in the original and the new rubble area.
Take it with a grain of salt. It is from a reliable inside source not on the scene but credible. The cat feeders in the area are on high alert and authorities are looking for and at all animals running loose (some new). There might be more located. So if positive ‘thoughts and prayers’ have any impact on bending the universe towards giving animal companion families miracles let’s keep asking for that to the universe.
So while other condo residents hold out hope for their loved ones, Binx serves as a reminder that miracles DO happen!
There is no way to comprehend the horror that was felt in those life changing moments. And although Binx is back in their lives, the Gonzalez family and others now must begin to move forward. Those lost must be remembered and we must learn from the mistakes of the past. Healing purrs to everyone affected and thank you to all who helped reunite the family.
