ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Key Largo Cats

2003-2004 Feral cats living in the federally protected Crocodile Lake Wildlife Refuge near Key Largo, Florida were supposedly killing “endangered species” who were also living in the refuge. The United States Department of Agriculture planned to trap these cats and bring them to Monroe County’s Animal Control – which would kill them.

     We were able to persuade USDA to give us any cats they trapped – instead of having them killed at Animal Control. On December 17, 2003 USDA inspected and approved our sanctuary as an acceptable destination for these otherwise doomed cats. Over the next few months they called us each time they trapped a cat. We drove down to Key Largo each time they called – and took 14 cats to our sanctuary.

     We were the only animal rescue organization to offer to take possession of these cats and save their lives.

Hurricane Cats

2004 We took in over 150 cats from areas hit by the 2004 Florida hurricanes. Some were feral; some were friendly; all were lost or unclaimed by their owners.

2005 The Humane Society of Lee County (located in Ft. Myers) went to the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina and brought back many cats and dogs. They called and asked if we could take some of the cats... “Of course!” When we got there it was apparent that almost all of the “Katrina Cats” were adoptable. Since we don’t do very many adoptions ourselves, it would be better for the Katrina Cats to stay at the Humane Society to be adopted. Instead, we took 18 of the Humane Society’s unadopted cats – perfectly healthy, lovable cats, that had not been adopted while at the Humane Society. Some of these unadoptables had been at the Humane Society for over a year.

     By taking their unadoptables, we freed up space and resources for the Humane Society and gave the Katrina Cats a chance to find a loving home.

     Three of the Katrina Cats tested positive for Leukemia... instead of putting them down, we took them, too.

Abandoned and Evicted Cats

2005 70 cats were abandoned by their Zephyrhills owner. Several rescue groups took 30. We traveled to Zephyrhills four times to help trap the remaining 40 and brought the cats to our sanctuary.

2006 58 cats were living on a horse farm in Coconut Creek. The farm’s owner told the rescue group to leave within two weeks. They had no place to go – except to our sanctuary.

2006 97 cats were living on a farm in Frostproof. The farm’s owner became abusive to the caregiver. The caregiver had to leave – and brought the cats to us.

2007 The spring "kitten season" was the worst we've seen in the 6 years we've been taking in kittens. At one point we had over 100 kittens at the sanctuary or in foster care. The Fall "kitten season" added another 100 kittens. Fortunately we were able to place almost all of the kittens with no-kill adoption groups where they have been adopted.