A Red Paw Emergency Relief Team volunteer and rescued dog posing near the donated car. (Photo by West Philly Local).

Here’s some great news for a great local organization that has helped save lives of hundreds of our little friends and companions since its inception in 2011. Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, a non-profit that responds to fires and other disasters in the city and helps displaced pets, has just received a new vehicle, which will allow them to continue their important work, since their old car started breaking down too often. The new car was donated by NRG Home.

The new vehicle was presented to Red Paw’s staff and volunteers, including the founder and former firefighter Jennifer Leary, this afternoon near the corner of 48th and Walnut Streets, across the street from the empty lot where the Windermere Court Apartments building once stood. Red Paw was created in the aftermath of the devastating fire at Windermere in January 2011. Many pets remained trapped inside the heavily damaged and structurally unstable building for weeks after the fire, which prompted rescue efforts by local pet rescue organizations.

Jennifer Leary was one of the firefighters responding to the Windermere fire. She founded Red Paw in July 2011.

The Philadelphia SPCA is now offering monthly low-cost veterinary clinics at Drexel University’s Dornsife Center (3509 Spring Garden). The first clinic is on Monday, May 11, from 2 – 6 p.m. See the flier below for more information.

Many thanks to our reader Nadia Adawi who sent us this report of an amazing cat rescue that took place in the Chester Avenue Dog Park at 48th and Chester last night.

A cat was stuck at the very top of a tree in the dog park for some 36 hours before a heroic rescue by Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, the Philadelphia Fire Department, and Animal Care and Control Team of Philadelphia. It took five attempts, because the cat kept climbing higher. The cat is now safe at ACCT.

The family that runs Manakeesh Café Bakery at 45th and Walnut are looking for their missing cat. The cat is described as a female ginger and white cat (pictured).

If you find the cat please call (215-921-2135) or bring her to Manakeesh. A free smoothie and half-dozen baklava are offered for anyone who finds her!

If you missed the cat shelter making workshop organized by Project M.E.O.W. earlier this winter, here’s another chance. This Saturday, Project M.E.O.W. and Best Friends Animal Society are hosting another workshop, from 1 – 4 p.m. at Beaumont Warehouse (5027 Beaumont Ave) in West Philadelphia. At the workshop, you can learn how to build a simple shelter out of a plastic bin for cats in your neighborhood or for your own cat. What you can bring to help: 18 or 37 gallon Rubbermaid plastic bins with lids. Check out the event flier below for more information. Please email: philadelphiacats@bestfriends.org or info@projectmeow.org with questions or call 215-913-6013.

Flier for missing dog Kara.

Our readers may remember Kara, a black Lab mix with white nose and white chest, that went missing more than two years ago from the Powelton neighborhood. Kara ran away from her home near 36th and Lancaster on December 3, 2012 and was last seen running down Spring Garden Street.

Kara’s owners continued their search for the dog for many months after he disappeared. They posted numerous flyers and ads, including one on West Philly Local.

And here’s great news: Kara was found earlier this week about five miles away in the suburbs! Kara’s owner, Ayse Gürsan-Salzmann, an archaeologist at Penn, says that her dog was sighted and picked up by volunteers at Francisvale shelter in Radnor. “He was found near the railroad tracks at Merion station,” Ayse wrote us in an email.

This is amazing, and we’re very happy that this story has a happy ending.

Kara, who originally was rescued in Turkey and brought to the U.S., looks more mature now (he’s now 3 and a half years), but his owners recognized him right away when they saw him at the shelter.

Check out this video by FOX29 News: