DO-GOODERS: From left, Fran Coyle joined Kathleen O’Malley from the Mayor’s Alliance to present Dr. Ninette
Ibrahim with an award for her work saving Babydoll. Coyle’s friend and hairdresser Jerry Wong, far right, also
swung by to celebrate the occasion. Photo by Kevin Duggan
HORSING AROUND: Sinterklaas
rode in on his steed, Schimmel.
Photo by Steve Solomonson
Police arrest suspect for fatal Gravesend hit and run
COURIER LIFE, D M B G EC. 14–20, 2018 3
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
It took a borough — or two —
to save this kitty!
Leaders of a local animalrescue
group cheered the efforts
of two Southern Brooklynites
and another city
dweller who saved a stray
kitty from life on the streets,
recently giving one of the dogooders
an award as part of
the organization’s ongoing
initiative to reduce the number
of feral felines citywide.
The Gravesend woman
who fi rst discovered the wayward
fur ball — and started
the chain of events that
took the kitty to Bay Ridge,
Queens, and ultimately its
forever home in Texas — said
the whole ordeal started back
in 2015, when Babydoll fi rst
showed up on her patio looking
for a bite to eat.
“I’m an animal lover and I
love feeding these cats,” said
Fran Coyle.
Following her initial visit,
Babydoll regularly returned
to Coyle’s house — often with
friends — over the next two
years, knowing she could always
fi nd a fresh meal, according
to the homeowner,
who said there were times no
less than eight strays swung
by looking for grub.
But in November 2017,
Coyle noticed that Babydoll
suddenly stopped eating, and
wouldn’t leave the makeshift
shelter the animal lover set
up for the cat in her yard.
Coyle then took Babydoll
to a vet in Bay Ridge, who kept
her for about a week for treatment
after she contracted a
serious cold, according to the
doctor, who said the kitty was
all skin and bones when her
care taker dropped her off.
“The cat was in a very
poor body condition and dehydrated
at the time, it had
a 106-degree fever and we
had to keep her here for a few
days,” said Dr. Ninette Ibrahim,
who nursed Babydoll
back to health at the Animal
Clinic of Bay Ridge on 86th
Street between Seventh Avenue
and Dahlgren Place.
Ibrahim on Dec. 4 received
the honor from the Mayor’s
Alliance for NYC’s Animals
— which has no affi liation
with the mayor’s offi ce —
for her work to get Babydoll
back on her feet last year, but
the cat’s vet-assisted recovery
was not the end of her ordeal.
Coyle could not keep Babydoll
after her stint at the veterinarian,
due to what she
said are her severe allergies
to cats, so she called around
to city rescues until a Manhattan
shelter put her in
touch with a Queens woman,
who said she agreed to foster
the ball of fuzz and get her in
better shape.
“She was in a bad condition,
really frail,” said Clara
Collazo.
The foster mom said the
kitty arrived at her place
with dirty, matted fur — under
which, she found something
even more grisly.
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
It’s a beloved holiday tradition,
borrowed from the
Dutch!
Brooklynites fl ocked to
Canarsie’s Wyckoff House
Museum on Dec. 1 for the historical
home’s annual Saint
Nicholas Day bash, which organizers
said honors the patron
saint of children known
as “Sinterklaas” to the Dutch,
and celebrates the holiday
traditions of Kings County’s
early Dutch settlers.
“It gives people a taste of
wider cultural infl uences,”
said Melissa Branfman, the
museum’s executive director.
Some 150 locals came out
for the festivities, which the
hosts based off of Christmas
pastimes enjoyed by 17thcentury
Dutch immigrants
to the borough, Branfman
said.
Activities included crooning
traditional old-timey
holiday tunes with colonial
balladeer Linda Russell, decorating
traditional Dutch
clogs called klompen, and
snacking on Dutch donuts,
known as oliebollen.
But the real fun began
when Sinterklaas rode in
on horseback, after which,
youngsters got to feed carrots
and hay to his trusty
horse Schimmel.
And after the man of the
hour stowed his steed, he
read the kids a book about
himself called “The Baker’s
Dozen: A Saint Nicholas
Tale,” before posing for pictures
with them, and then letting
the tots sign their names
on the naughty and nice lists
he keeps in his “red book.”
(Spoiler alert: all the
youngsters signed the “nice”
list.)
STORY TIME: St. Nick read a children’s book to the kids during his visit
to Canarsie’s Wyckoff House Museum. Photo by Steve Solomonson
Cause for appaws!
Sinterklaas rides
into boro again!
Southern Brooklynites honored for for saving stray cat
Continued on page 12
BY ANNA SPIVAK
Cops on Tuesday cuffed a
Brighton Beach woman for
driving away after hitting and
killing another woman as she
crossed a Gravesend street
earlier that day.
The 55-year-old motorist
behind the wheel of a Ford
Econoline van driving on W.
Second Street towards Shore
Parkway smashed into 57-
year-old Francine Labarbara
around 8 am while making a
left turn onto Avenue Y, as Labarbara
crossed that avenue,
police said.
Responders rushed to the
scene and found the victim,
who lived in Gravesend, unconscious
on the pavement
with trauma to her head and
body — but no sign of the
driver, who rode off after the
fatal crash, authorities said.
Paramedics rushed Labarbara
to Coney Island Hospital,
where doctors pronounced her
dead.
Offi cials caught up with
their suspect around 11:50 pm,
arresting her on charges including
leaving the scene of
an accident, failure to yield to
a pedestrian, and failure to exercise
due care, police said.
Labarbara worked at popular
Williamsburg breakfast
joint The Bagel Store — known
for its signature, rainbow-colored
boiled bread — according
to employees, who took to social
media shortly after the fatal
incident to mourn the loss
of their beloved colleague.
“She worked tirelessly,
seeking every opportunity to
further the work she believed
in,” the store’s staff wrote in
an Instagram post .