SUFFOLK—
Jamarea Mills stood up to a bully who was abusing a kitten, knocking the knife out of the 12-year-old's hands after he threatened to kill the cat."I thought he was going to live until I think he had brain damage because he got hit in the head with it, with the big log," he said.
But when the nine-year-old cat-saving hero got home from school today, his mom had to break the news to him. The kitten didn't make it.
"How'd that make you feel?" we asked.
"Sad," he said.
But does the heartbreaking loss change what Jamarea wants to be when he grows up?
"Still want to be a veterinarian," he said.
So, to cheer him up, NewsChannel 3 took him to the Harbour Veterinary Office in Suffolk, where the little guy is a big celebrity.
"Are you the hero?" asked one employee.
"I've been wanting to give you a big hug."
Like a magnet, the animals and Jamarea were drawn to one another and even though he's just nine, Jamarea could see himself working here.
"You get to pick up animals."
He met Charlie and she reminded Jamarea of the kitten he saved last weekend.
"It looks like the momma of it."
And boy, was Jamarea curious.
"How do you unlock the dinkeys?" he asked. "What's in that bucket?"
"This is where we put poop in to test it for worms," said one worker.
And there was one thing Jamarea just had to do.
"Can I feed some of the animals?" he asked.
So the puppy and the boy bonded. And they may get the chance to grow up together.
Jamarea's already been offered an internship at the vet's office once he becomes a teenager.
"I want you to come up here and hang around and help us do stuff," said the worker.
The doctor then gave his future apprentice a kit full of supplies to start his own neighborhood practice. And Jamarea dug right in.
"To see that in a kid at that age, shoot, who knows he might grow up to be a vet and that'd be cool," they added.
