Binx the Cat Found 16 Days After Surfside Condo Collapse

'A small piece of good news': Kitty has been reunited with family
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 10, 2021 6:00 AM CDT

In what WSVN calls a "miracle" for one of the families affected by the tragedy in Surfside, Fla., a cat that lived in Champlain Towers South has been found alive, more than two weeks after the condo collapsed. "After 16 long and extremely difficult days, I'm happy to be able to share a small piece of good news," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a Friday presser about Binx, who was recognized by a volunteer feeding cats near the collapse site, per CNN. Binx was brought to Miami Beach's Kitty Campus, a group that takes care of cats in the community, and subsequently IDed and reunited with his family, per the Miami Herald. The paper reports Binx was from a ninth-floor unit belonging to the Gonzalez family. Volleyball player Deven Gonzalez, 16, is recovering from a broken leg after falling several stories with her mother, Angela Gonzalez, during the collapse. Her mother remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Deven's father, Edgar Gonzalez, is still among the missing. Her older sister, Tayler Gonzalez, wasn't home at the time of the collapse. A family friend tells WSVN the cat is Deven's. "All we needed was a ray of hope in this tragedy ... Today was one of the most amazing days," Kitty Campus co-founder Gina Nicole Vlasek wrote Friday on Facebook. "We are so grateful to be able to help in any small way." Per the AP, Levine Cava says animal control workers are placing traps near the rubble in the hope of luring more pets who may have survived the collapse. Meanwhile, Tayler Gonzalez says in a Friday GoFundMe update that her sister is making good progress, walking with a walker, and that her mom is "awake and ... talkative as ever." As for her dad, she asks for prayers for "his sweet sweet heart to come back to us." (More Florida condo collapse stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X