Nature

Disaster Relief Corporal Melts Hearts By Adopting Cat He Saved From La Palma Volcanic Eruption

A disaster relief worker has adopted the cat whose life he saved after it was knocked unconscious by smoke and ash from the ongoing Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption.

Video footage shows how Corporal Juan Carlos Nunez of the Military Emergencies Unit, a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and cardiac massage on the motionless cat through a plastic filter.

The cat had been floored by smoke and ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma in the Spanish region of the Canary Islands, which began on 19th September and is ongoing.

A member of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) who was working on La Palma rescued a kitten from volcano ashes with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation , which he later decided to adopt in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. (UME/Newsflash)

Not only did Corporal Nunez successfully revive the feline, but he went on to adopt it, naming it Laguna in homage to the town of La Laguna, which has seen hundreds of houses destroyed by the lava flow from the eruption.

After Nunez revived the cat, it was tended to by a team of veterinarians currently working with animals affected by the eruption until it was well enough to return home with its new owner.

Corporal Nunez and Laguna are now back together again after the former completed his fortnight-long mission on the most north-westerly Canary island.

A member of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) who was working on La Palma rescued a kitten from volcano ashes with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation , which he later decided to adopt in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. (UME/Newsflash)

The ongoing Cumbre Vieja eruption has reportedly seen 7,000 people evacuated and 670 hectares (1,656 acres) of land covered by lava.

Over 1,100 buildings have been destroyed and the lava flow, which has completely engulfed the town of Todoque, has reached the sea, forming a new peninsula.

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