Zatara (Tara for short),The Story of Tara
/ref> is a female

tabby A tabby is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a distinctive 'M'-shaped marking on its forehead; stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail; and (differing by tabby type), characteristic striped, d ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

living in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, who rescued her human family's child from being attacked by a neighbor dog named Scrappy. The moment was recorded on household surveillance. The footage uploaded on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

received over 16.8 million views in the first 48 hours.

Early life

Tara joined the Triantafilo family in 2008 after she followed the parents to their home. The name Tara was the pet form of 'Zatara', the name smugglers gave to

Edmond Dantès Edmond Dantès () is a title character and the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas's 1844 adventure novel ''The Count of Monte Cristo''. Within the story's narrative, Dantès is an intelligent, honest and loving man who turns bitter and vengeful after ...

in ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with '' The Three Musketeers''. L ...

''. The smugglers said it meant driftwood.

Rise to fame

On May 13, 2014, Jeremy Triantafilo, a four-year-old boy with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

, was riding his bicycle in his family's driveway in Bakersfield, California, when a neighborhood dog, described as an 8-month-old

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

Chow Chow may refer to: * Selected set of nutrients fed to animals subjected to laboratory testing * Chow Chow, a dog breed * A slang term for food in general (such as in the terms "chow down" or "chow hall") * Chow test, a statistical test for detec ...

mix, came from behind and attacked his leg. The dog was pulling Jeremy down his driveway when Tara, who the family states was very attached to Jeremy, tackled the dog and chased him away, then returned to Jeremy's side to check on him. Jeremy needed 10 stitches in his left

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts *Veal, meat from calves ...

following the attack, but he quickly recovered and was thankful for Tara's actions, calling her "my hero". A few days later, the local minor league baseball team the

Bakersfield Blaze The Bakersfield Blaze were a minor league baseball team in Bakersfield, California. They played in the Class A – Advanced California League. They played their home games at Sam Lynn Ballpark. Opened in 1941, the stadium is well known for fac ...

invited the cat, assisted by Jeremy's family, to throw the first pitch at a Bakersfield minor league baseball game in

Sam Lynn Ballpark Sam Lynn Ballpark (also known as "Historic" Sam Lynn Ballpark) is a baseball venue in Bakersfield, California and was the oldest ballpark of the Class-A Advanced California League. It was built in 1941 for the Bakersfield Badgers, which began the ...

as a recognition for her deed. In the same spirit,

Cat Fanciers' Association The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) was established in the United States in 1906. The CFA is currently the world's largest registry of pedigreed cats. Originally headquartered in Manasquan, New Jersey the CFA moved to Alliance, Ohio in 2010. ...

announced Tara as the recipient of its first-ever Cat Hero Award. On June 3, 2014, the Bakersfield Board of Supervisors proclaimed June 3 Tara the Hero Cat Day. On August 15, 2014, Tara was awarded the Special Award For Cat Achievement by the Cat Vid Festival. On September 26, 2014, Tara was awarded the Blue Tiger Award; an award only awarded to military service dogs. Tara became the first non-human to be named the grand marshal for Bakersfield's Christmas parade in 2014. On June 19, 2015, Tara was awarded with the Los Angeles SPCA's "Hero Dog" award, for which she also won a year's supply of cat food. On New Year's Day, 2018, Tara and her family rode in the Rose Parade on the Lucy Pet Foundation Paws for Life float honoring heroic animals.

Records

* Ranked 22nd-most influential cat on the internet by

Friskies Friskies is an American brand of wet and dry cat food and treats owned by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, a subsidiary of Nestlé global. Friskies was initially introduced by Carnation Company in the 1930s as a dog food brand. When Friskies c ...

Fate of the dog

Scrappy, an approximately 8-month-old Labrador-Chow mix was surrendered by its owners to the City of Bakersfield Animal Care Center later on May 13, when it began a mandatory 10-day quarantine period to determine whether the animal had rabies. After the video of Tara went viral, websites and online petitions popped up urging the dog not be put down, and calls flooded the phones at the Bakersfield Animal Care Center, according to its director Julie Johnson. Despite this, based on the observations in the kennel during the quarantine period, the dog remained classified as a "vicious" and "dangerous" animal. Therefore, adoption requests were strictly denied. At the end of the mandatory 10-day quarantine period, Scrappy was euthanized despite opposition from animal groups and online petitioners. The dog "was humanely euthanized over the weekend," May 24, 2014, according to Johnson, who noted the incident has ended far from quietly.

References

External links