(MEDFORD, N.Y) -- An animal sanctuary owner and roughly 100 cats have died in a fire on Long Island, according to officials.
The flames broke out at approximately 7:15 a.m. on Monday at Happy Cat Sanctuary in Medford, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. At the time of the fire, 300 cats were housed in the sanctuary, according to the Save The Animals Rescue Foundation.
Once the blaze was extinguished, police said they found the owner of the sanctuary, 65-year-old Christopher Arsenault, deceased in the home.
At least 100 cats died in the fire, Save The Animals Rescue Foundation said.
Arsenault attempted to extinguish the flames, taking cats away from the fire until "he went back in and he didn't come out," according to Lisa Jaeger, founder of Jaeger's Run Animal Rescue.
"We lost the best man on the face of the planet, we're just going to need everybody's support now to try to continue his dream," Jaeger said in a post on social media.
Jaeger said that "a lot of the cats did survive and we are doing our best to secure them."
Jaeger's organization, Suffolk County SPCA and other local animal groups are assisting in the rescue of the surviving cats, with many suffering burns and respiratory distress, according to Strong Island Animal Rescue.
Police said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
John Spat, the founder of Save-A-Dog Animal Protection Service, said in a statement that Arsenault was "one of the kindest humans to inhabit this Earth."
"He just bought 30 acres upstate to make the USA's best cat sanctuary. He was currently moving the cats up there. He never got to see his dream," Spat said.
Arsenault began rescuing cats in 2006 after his 24-year-old son Eric "lost his life in a tragic accident when the throttle on his motorcycle stuck," according to the sanctuary's website.
After the death of his son, Arsenault came across a colony of 30 sick kittens, removed them from the colony and "nursed them back to health," the website said.
"It was at that point he knew saving cats was his calling, and he opened Happy Cat Sanctuary," the nonprofit's website said.
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