When Unanswered Animal Control Calls Leave Residents in Distress.. Please help us Save 23 Cats
A Desperate Attempt At Humanity When No Help Came
We are often told by public officials that there is simply not enough funding to properly address animal issues when there are so many people suffering. What we do our best to make them realize is that human and animal issues are one in the same. Today we need your help for 23 cats and an overwhelmed senior citizen who found no help.
The Story Begins with just 2 Cat:
Several months ago a 70 year old woman had 2 pregnant cats wander into her yard. She lives in her home with her one senior cat and barely gets by financially. She knew she could not handle more and called for help. She called animal control, she called rescues, she kept lists of everyone she begged for help. Nothing worked. She was told to "contain the cats" and they would be picked up when there was space. So she lured the moms into her senior cats catio space and closed the door. She called and called but no help came. An then there were 23....
As the numbers grew and no more food could be paid for she desperately cooked food from food pantries to keep her and the cats fed.
Despite all of her efforts there was not really enough food for growing kittens and pregnant mothers. She has done all she can but with no help and no place to surrender strays to she the situation has grown progressively worse for both her and the cats.
As time passed and more calls were ignored the numbers continued to grow. Today she is facing nearly 30 cats and new born kittens with no real shelter, not enough food, and no funds for medical care. Every day she would feed and try her best to clean up. She put on her rubber boots and did her best to hose out the feces and urine. This woman is not unintelligent, she is not a hoarder, and she knew how bad the situation was. She was fully aware that their lives were in danger and the situation was not healthy for the cats nor for her. She knew and she begged for help.
Trying to make the food last she did her best to feed over 23 cats!
Thankfully as temperatures dropped news made it to someone who reached out to us. We immediately jumped into action and made sure all veterinary care would be covered. Foster homes and adopters are being sought and plans are underway to save these cats and restore a senior citizens sense of normalcy in life. The feeder is frazzled in the flurry of activity around her but is doing everything that is asked to make sure these cats survive.
The amount of stress, mental anguish, and financial hardship caused by inadequate municipal services is staggering. The risk to this woman's health are catastrophic. Not only is she handling unvaccinated cats, limiting her own food intake and working for months to clean feces and urine but she lives with the knowledge that it will only become more desperate as the numbers continue to grow. The lack of resources for animals has affected her life. It has caused permanent damage to her home, it has drained the budget of a senior citizen living on a fixed income and it has left her to live with the trauma of this situation.
We are now scrambling to raise the thousands of dollars needed to help cats that never should have been born if the initial call had been answered. We can not let them starve. We can not let them freeze. We can not let a well meaning 70 year old woman watch cats, she has fought to keep alive, die this winter.
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