A Colombian cat is being hailed a hero after it saved a toddler from tumbling down a stairwell on October 31.
Video footage shows the moment a 1-year-old named Samuel begins to crawl across his nursery’s floor to the stairway. The cat, a Siamese breed named Gatubela, watches from her perch on the couch as the baby gets dangerously close to the open door.
Suddenly, Gatubela leaps from the couch and runs toward the child, placing her paws on his back and seemingly pushing him in the opposite direction. She continues to stand between him and the stairwell, and he eventually turns and crawls the other way.
The video was shared to a Facebook group called Fundación Gatos Bogotanos en Adopción (GABA) which is a cat rescue and adoption organization based in Bogotá.
“I present to you the hero of the week, catwoman you are a blessing,” the post in Spanish read.
Siamese cats are known as highly intelligent, protective creatures that were reportedly given as gifts to the English consulate general in Bangkok from the King of Siam in the late 19th century.
Even though no one knows whether or not the legend is true, it is said that the felines were bred as temple guards to protect the monarch as he sat on his throne, according to the Hill’s Pet website.
The site read:
If anyone threatened the king, the cats would jump down from the pillars onto the individual. Between the size of the Siamese, their strength and their ability to jump down from a height, they would knock the person to the floor. If need be, they would scratch at the face of the person who thought he could harm the King of Siam.
Researchers at Oregon State University recently discovered that cats do in fact bond with humans, much like dogs.
“Like dogs, cats display social flexibility in regard to their attachments with humans,” said Kristyn Vitale, study author and researcher at the university’s Human-Animal Interaction Lab.
“The majority of cats are securely attached to their owner and use them as a source of security in a novel environment,” Vitale concluded.
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