Going the extra mile
ALL IT TOOK WAS A BIT OF KNOW-HOW FOR A GROUP OF COWORKERS TO TURN INTO HEROES FOR CATS
Employees at a California transport company in Riverside County had been feeding local stray cats — simply because they liked them. The staff dutifully put out food and water, and whenever there were kittens, the team’s airplane pilot, Malcolm, would take them to the shelter. Believing this was the best option for the baby cats, Malcolm thought the kittens would be likely to get adopted. But with thousands of felines flooding the shelter every year, their chances of getting out alive were slim.
Luckily, there was another option, and the employees were happy to hear about it. Because Best Friends has a community cat program (CCP) at the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter, Best Friends staff were able to help the group of coworkers with their kitty challenges. The CCP team arrived with humane live traps and trapped 35 cats so they could be spayed or neutered, and vaccinated. Many of the cats had upper respiratory infections, so they received treatment for that, too.
Malcolm even went so far as to offer his home for fostering cats when needed, and he volunteered to call the county Board of Supervisors to encourage support of the program. Now they have a well-managed, healthy, happy colony of cats who, best of all, won’t continue to have kittens. While going the extra mile is something that those in the transportation business do for a living, these folks took it to a whole new level, proving that the way we will Save Them All is one local hero at a time.
Now they have a wellmanaged, healthy, happy colony of cats who, best of all, won’t continue to have kittens.
» Find everything you need to know about helping community cats:
bestfriends.org/straycats