A cat who survived an earthquake? (PHOTO)

Dogs and cats are some of the most domesticated pets in households and there are often stories about the closeness between these animals and humans. Even during disaster times, these pets tend to stay close to their masters and vice versa as well.

Recently, we came across a heartwarming story claiming to be the scene of a cat being rescued by its owner after an earthquake. However, the viral image was miscaptioned as the cat was actually found days after a tornado in 2011, after being stuck under the rubble.

Social Media Claims

A photo of a lady holding a cat dearly in the backdrop of collapsed buildings and debris was shared widely among social media users with the caption “Pure happiness- finding her cat safe after an earthquake.” Below is the viral Instagram post from 28^th April 2022.

Instagram| Archived

Photos with same captions were found way back in 2016, as seen in the below Facebook post.

Facebook | Archived

Origins of the Photo:

We did a Google Reverse Image Search for the viral image and were able to find out that the scenes were actually relating to a moment in which the owner of a cat had discovered her missing cat under the rubble. However, it was a tornado and not an earthquake, which had left the cat stranded and the incident happened over a decade ago.

The tornado occurred in 2011 in the Alabama state, United States of America. Certain parts of the Alabama state were significantly damaged, and many houses were destroyed while it was reported that the series of tornados claimed 8 lives. After the end of the twister waves, debris could be seen everywhere.

Terrla Cruise was a woman who used to live in such a devastated house, and she came back to the area to see debris of her house, 16 days after the devastation. Surprisingly, following the sound of a cat, Terra was able to find her 13-year-old cat, Lavern, from the middle of the debris and the animal was alive despite the reduction of body weight. The news reported by the Daily Mail website with a picture as seen below.

Daily Mail| Archived

We also came across a few Facebook posts from 2011, related to the discovery of the cat Lavern, after the pet had been buried for 16 days in the rubble.

Here is another article with a detailed version of the same story, which reports that Terrla’s family had owned 2 cats and unfortunately the other cat had died during the devastation. Archived

Here is another similar recent story from the USA, when a cat was discovered after 9 days from the Kentucky tornado in December 2021.

Cats are believed to have strong survival skills and escape from falls and there are many instances where cats have been rescued, days after earthquakes as well. Here is a video from 2016, showing a cat being rescued by Italian firefighters after being trapped underneath the rubble for 16 days after an earthquake.

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