Earthquake Memorial Cash Is Donated to Pet Rescuers

Six months after her parents were killed in the Northridge earthquake, Elise Kaplan has found a way to bring some good out of the tragedy.

“My parents both loved animals,” said Kaplan, the daughter of earthquake victims David and Cecilia Pressman, both 72 and married for 51 years, who died in an embrace in Apartment 105 at Northridge Meadows.

Kaplan of Granada Hills started a memorial fund after their deaths, and has decided to donate the $900 now in it to the Pet Rescue Assn. in Sun Valley, she said this week.

She said a recent newspaper article about how donations for the group had dropped because of the earthquake, potentially forcing the group to close, prompted her decision.

“Rather than having people send flowers, I thought it would be better to collect some money and do some good with it,” said Kaplan, who admits she at first had dreamed of getting “thousands of dollars and finding the cure for cancer.”

But her parents would be pleased with the donation, she said.

“If they had lived to read that article, they would have wanted to donate,” said Kaplan, who had her parents’ mail forwarded to her after the earthquake and discovered that they had made donations to several animal groups.

“It will help keep us going a bit longer,” said Annette Petelle, president of the Pet Rescue Assn., who added that donations had picked up recently.

Although her parents had two dachshunds and a mutt years ago, they did not have any pets at the time of the quake. Ironically, they had planned to move out of the apartment complex in a few months and to get a dog.

“I always knew they loved animals,” said Kaplan. “They were like their babies to them.”

The Pet Rescue Assn. has kennels for 125 animals. Some of the animals they rescued were made homeless by the Northridge earthquake, Petelle said.