By Staff Writer Debra Dowling

Mother’s Day is today. To honor it, I wanted to find a real-life mother who exemplifies the maternal bond that is so hard to describe but instantly recognizable when we see or feel it.
I narrowed it down to Scarlett, a calico cat from New York who gained international fame 14 years ago when she braved a raging fire that severely singed and disfigured her as she was saving her young.
That’s right, I’m dedicating this Mother’s Day to a cat. Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with my own mother, Joyce Librizzi Dowling, who is even more of an animal lover than I am.
Mom and I were both glued to the TV set on March 30, 1996, as the story unfolded of a stray cat that had baffled firefighters who saw her dash several times inside a burning, abandoned crack house in Brooklyn, N.Y.
In a flash, the mother cat darted five times into and  out of the blazing inferno, each time with greater injuries and each time with a newborn kitten in her mouth.
Despite burns to her eyes, ears and face, she retrieved all five of her babies. Once outside, firefighters watched her count each kitty by nudging them with her nose to make sure they were alive. She used her nose because she could not see them — her eyes were blistered shut.
She then proceeded to move all five across the street to safety. Then, she collapsed.
All six felines were given veterinary care. All but the last kitten to exit the burning building survived, the last one died a few days later. It was noted at the time that each successive kitten that was retrieved one by one by their mother had suffered greater smoke injuries.
I’m sure, in fact, as a mother myself I just know Scarlett would have gathered them all at the same time if she could. How agonizing it must have been to grab one and run so she could rush back to get the next.
At the time, it was reported that when firefighters tried to block Scarlett from re-entering the building, she was too quick and too fierce for them. Imagine that: big, physically fit firemen could not capture a 10-pound mother trying to protect her young. I’m not surprised.
How to explain risky behavior that might appear irrational to outsiders? The maternal instinct apparently supersedes one’s own survival instinct. (Ever notice how airlines advise adults, in case of emergency, to secure the oxygen mask over their own faces first before putting it on a child’s? It feels counterintuitive. We have to consciously fight certain instincts.)
Mammals are programmed to save their offspring first. Mother Nature has apparently put the species ahead of the individual.
Scarlett, named for her burned, matted fur, had been a feral cat, estimated to be about a year old when the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, N.Y., administered immediate veterinary care amid a frenzy of global media attention.
More than 7,000 people from all over the world called and wrote the shelter wanting to adopt the cat and her kittens.
The clinic ultimately chose to divide the kittens into two pairs to residents of Long Island, N.Y.
Karen Wellen, of Brooklyn, adopted Scarlett after winning the clinic over with her letter explaining how she herself had  been injured in a traffic accident and that, as a result of losing her cat shortly after that accident, she had become more compassionate and vowed to only take in animals with special needs.
Scarlett passed away in October 2008. For the rest of her life, she required constant care because of the injuries she suffered that day she fought fire to save her offspring.
Shortly before her death, she had been diagnosed with a heart murmur.
But she had also, evidently, been happy. The former stray had grown quite accustomed to her comfortable new surroundings, where every day the deserving heroine was treated like royalty. When the media reported that all the attention had gone slightly to the little burn victim’s head, her public only seemed to love her more. 
For years, usually on the anniversary of the fire, reporters and paparazzi would swarm once again.
Scarlett became a poster child for any movement to protect or neuter animals, and the subject of  photos, books, including “Scarlett Saves Her Family;” and a poem, “Why is Everybody So Surprised I Saved my Furry Five?’’ She  also had a guest spot on Oprah.
I’ll never forget that limping kitty with splints on her legs, patches on her eyes.
She will always be remembered fondly as a symbol of the maternal instinct at its finest.

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