The Cuban veterinarian Yaileny Selema Sánchez, founder of the animal sanctuary Second Chance Farm, experienced a terrifying event early Wednesday morning when a fire broke out in one of the rooms of her ranch around 1:00 am. The intervention of her cat prevented a tragedy.
Yaileny recounted it in a video posted on her Instagram account with a phrase that summarizes everything: "If it weren't for my cat waking me up, I wouldn't be telling this story now."
“We were all sleeping; it seemed like nothing was happening in the house. Everything was quiet, and suddenly, my cat started bothering me,” the Cuban woman recounted. Upon opening her eyes, she noticed white smoke filling the entire house.
When she and her boyfriend opened the door to the room, the scene was shocking: "One of the rooms was on fire, the flames were literally reaching the ceiling."
The couple reacted immediately. They called 911 and used a hose to control the fire. "Thank God it didn't get worse and it was only in the room," Yaileny said.
Once the flames were under control, their priority was the animals in the sanctuary. "At that moment, I didn't know whom to save first. My animals were here. I started bringing them out, going from the smallest to the largest," he recounted.
All the animals are safe and stable, although some still appear visibly scared. Yaileny herself reported difficulties breathing after inhaling a lot of smoke during the incident.
Second Chance Farm, the non-profit sanctuary that Yaileny founded eight years ago, welcomes horses, donkeys, goats, pigs, cows, dogs, cats, and turtles, all rescued from abusive situations or with severe medical conditions.
The shelter operated for years in Pahrump, Nevada, before moving to Florida, where Yaileny and her boyfriend, also Cuban, recently settled with all their animals.
The story of Yaileny is not the first in which a cat alerts its humans to a fire. In March of this year, a cat named Fred saved his owner in Oregon before losing his life in the incident. In September 2025, another feline alerted its family through security cameras.
The Cuban woman, who converted her home into an animal shelter since arriving in the United States, concluded her message to her followers with a promise: "We are all fine, the animals are scared but stable. I will keep you updated."
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