Pet owners breathe a sigh of relief

North Bay Firefighter Stu Mossington with the help of Pearl and her owner Cheryl Lamb demonstrate the new life saving tools for pets.

Each year thousands of Canadians suffer the loss of loved ones due to fire including the loss of beloved family pets, but area pet owners can now breathe a sigh of relief as the North Bay Fire & Emergency Services added a new life saving device to their rescue vehicle this week.

In the past, firefighters had limited options when trying to resuscitate pets because human breathing apparatus doesn’t fit animals properly making it impossible to get a tight seal around the nose of a cat or dog. Thanks to the company SurgiVet, who produce animal oxygen masks, area firefighters stand a real chance of saving precious family members.

Cheryl Lamb, a volunteer for the North Bay Humane Society and a member of ‘Rescuing Dogs in Canada’ says she found out about the animal oxygen masks through her yahoo email group and contacted our Fire Chief Ted McCullough.

“Fire Chief Ted McCullough was extremely receptive to the idea,” states Lamb.

Firefighter Stu Mossington, who has dog, cat and two lizards, agrees that there is nothing worse than a loss of life at a fire scene.

“Pets are valued family members and we want to help families avoid such a devastating loss.”

“We’ll do anything we can to save a life human or pet.”

The animal oxygen masks come in three sizes to choose from depending on the size of the animal and are now a staple in life saving equipment available for North Bay Fire & Emergency Services personnel to use at emergency scenes.