Nick Cooper outside CareVets cattery in Kilbirnie after the fire. Photo: RNZ / Rachel Helyer-Donaldson
The vet owner of a Wellington cattery that caught fire has confirmed two cats that remain unaccounted for escaped the building.
Emergency services were called to a blaze at the two-storey building which includes the CareVets cattery on Mahora Street in Kilbirnie before midnight on Saturday.
The building is red stickered and investigations are ongoing into the cause of the fire.
Owner Nick Cooper said humane cat traps have been set up around the clinic to catch the other missing felines.
"It's confirmed four have escaped on the night, very pleased to say we have two of them, caught one yesterday, caught another one today. We've now confirmed all numbers, so two aren't unaccounted for per se, we know that so we're searching for them [the other two] currently," said Cooper.
Cooper said all owners except for one have been contacted about their cats.
Fire and Emergency say CareVets in the Wellington suburb of Kilbirnie was gutted after a fire on Saturday 2 November 2024. Photo: RNZ / Rachel Helyer-Donaldson
Fire and Emergency said there was another fire at the same building three years ago on 19 October 2021 and that was classified as an accident.
Cooper said CareVets shares the building with residential flats where the previous fire was caused by a discarded cigarette which caught on vegetation debris.
"A tenant upstairs had been smoking on their deck and had some foliage underneath their deck, and they'd just thrown their cigarette butts into that area. And the fire investigators, that was a tenant that had dropped a lit cigarette in some foliage that caused it," Cooper said.
He said the building has been there for about 31 years.
He also praised his team for how they had handled both the blaze and the aftermath.
"My team has been amazing, to see midnight on a cold Saturday Wellington night, have them there with me and wanting to stay.
"My two teams Johnsonville and Kilbirnie, I've spent time with them this morning and they've just contacted people, providing a service and supporting each other," Cooper said.