Owner of Happy Cat Sanctuary who died in suspicious fire devoted his life to saving animals: A humanitarian and a great person

Neighbors of a Long Island cat sanctuary that burned in a suspicious fire tearfully remembered its owner, Chris Arsenault, who died trying to rescue his beloved felines from the blaze.“I’m deeply saddened by it,” said neighbor Cheryl Whitmore, who lived next door to Arsenault and his Happy Cat Sanctuary in Medford for more than 20 years.“He was a good guy … I’m glad that he was able to take in the cats to get them into a safe environment,” she told The Post.Arsenault, 65, was killed along with more than 100 cats when a fire mysteriously started at the sanctuary Monday morning, which a source close to the investigation said police are probing as an arson and homicide.The retired NJ Transit conductor started the cat sanctuary in 2006 after he lost his 24-year-old son, Eric, in a motorcycle accident, and was in desperate need of solace from his pain.He happened upon a colony of 30 sickly cats and kittens by the train tracks near his home — changing his life forever, as well as the lives of hundreds of cats over the years to come.Arsenault took the strays in and nursed them back to health, which to his surprise, helped him slowly begin to heal after the lowest point of his life.“After my son died, those cats gave me something to do,” Arsenault told the Daily Mail in 2018.Eventually, he transformed his entire home and yard into what would later become Happy Cat Sanctuary, keeping only his eight-by-12-foot bedroom for himself — where he both ate and slept.He purchased additional property in 2007 as the operation expanded, where he provided everything a wayward kitty could ever need, from heated perches to hammocks.Arsenault spayed and neutered the lucky felines that he took in and served up roast chicken dinners to his whiskered companions, who basked in safety and comfort with tummies full night after night.“He was the most genuine and sweetest person ever — a humanitarian and a great person,” neighbor Nelly Mendoza, who called 911 to report ...