In February, a truck driver noticed an abandoned armchair in the Jamieson Creek area. Two cats were huddled on it, and it was cold, so he called the Kamloops and District Branch of the BCSPCA. An employee went out. One cat ran off, but the other was too scared to move, so she put that cat in a carrier with some wet food. Soon he was purring.
She looked for the runaway cat and noticed that there were cats inside the chair. She didn’t know how many there were and didn’t want to traumatize them, so she loaded the urine-soaked armchair into the van.
The staff member took the cats and chair back to the shelter, where it was cut open and several more cats were rescued. The employee returned and set humane traps for the cat that had run away. She and another staff member monitored the traps on their own time in the cold and dark of the evening, when cats are more active.
The next day, she checked the traps and saw another cat on a fence post. She snapped a picture so they would know when they eventually caught her. This cat saved the rest of the cats that were abandoned in the area, because for the next month, staff were unable to find her and continued trapping and checking, rescuing others as they were found – a total of 22 cats.
The cats were in rough shape and sick. With the care of staff and volunteers, they were rehabilitated and adopted into forever homes.
We encourage others to call us in situations where animals are suffering or in danger, so that we can help.