The world is filled with great stories about heroic dogs, but now it’s time for a cat to shine. Gatubela, a Siamese cat in Bogotá, Colombia, was “caught” on video heroically saving one-year-old Samuel as he crept dangerously towards a stairway. A small infant making such a severe fall may easily have been fatal, and Gatubela’s fast efforts saved Samuel’s life.
How did Gatubela pull off such a feat? He pounced like any good cat would, but time was important, and it’s clear from watching the clip that Gatubela’s actions were planned.
In the renowned film, Samuel León, a one-year-old baby, is shown doing what infants do: crawling and investigating his environment.
Gatubela sits on the sofa, intently watching the toddler as he crawls about. Sameul, dressed in a scarlet bodysuit, walks by a crib and a rocking chair while being observed by the cat. Then, as Samuel crawls across the living room, Gatubela creeps up to the edge of the couch he’s seated on.
When the youngster creeps perilously near to the edge of the living room, Gatubela leaps from his seat and immediately into Samuel’s path.
When that doesn’t work, he wraps his front paws over Samuel’s torso, essentially forcing him to go backwards. Later in the film, the dynamic pair can be seen playing in the room together, with Gatubela’s ever-vigilant stare aimed to protect the small, trembling tot.
Samuel’s father, Ruptly Jesid Leon, said in an interview:
The cat has been a member of our family since she was a month old, and she has grown acquainted with my children. My son is two months older than she is.
The cat’s name, Gatubela, translates to “Catwoman,” after the DC Comics character. A comic book moniker seems appropriate for the extraordinary kitty. Samuel’s mother, Diana Lorena, claimed she examined the CCTV tape because she wanted to know how her baby got out of his crib. She understood Gatubela’s courageous efforts after seeing the clip.
My kid was still asleep when I came home from work quite early in the morning, so I placed him in his cot. I was a short distance away from him when I saw he had woken up and had left the crib by himself. As a result, I wanted to check back over the recordings to see how he got out of his crib. It was at that point that I realized the cat had saved his life.
The video was uploaded on the Facebook page of Fundación Gatos Bogotanos en Adopción, a cat rescue and adoption organization headquartered in Bogotá, and it instantly went viral. The cat’s courageous efforts astounded everyone.
“When you see animals respond like this, it indicates they are comfortable in their family setting and want to preserve it—the cat should receive a LOT of praise and a decent meal–and it would love it,” one reviewer remarked.
This is the stairwell Samuel was crawling towards:
My youngster would have slid down the stairs if it hadn’t been for the cat. As I saw the film, I felt both astonished and fortunate.
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