Saving Leona's Family: A Stray Rescue Story

Saving Leona's Family: A Stray Rescue Story

It was time to take Chester (that's my black lab-mix dog) for his daily romp through the park. It's about a 5 minute drive to the somewhat isolated county park where he gets his fun and I get my daily dose of reverie. As we drive around the loop to where we always park the car, I see them. Right along the edge of the meadow near some tall grass. A mother cat and several kittens—I can't tell how many.

My mind begins to race with a thousand thoughts. Are they real? How did this mother cat and kittens get here? There are no farms or houses near here. Are they feral? Did she just give birth? Did she move the kittens here from somewhere else? Should I help them?

Slowly I back the car up, so I don't frighten them. Now it's a foregone conclusion that I can't do a thing with this 70 pound I'm-ready-for-my-fun-today dog in the car. So, after consulting on my cell phone with my husband, I make a plan to come quickly home and return to the park with some rescue equipment—a cat carrier and some food.

When I return to the park, the mother is no where in sight, but I can see several 3-4 week old kittens in the tall grass at the edge of the meadow. One by one, I place four wiggly kittens gently in the carrier. They are mostly white with a few patches of color. I check around through the tall grass to make sure I have them all.

As I place the kittens in the carrier, the mother cat (a larger version of the kittens, mostly white with a couple of color patches) comes running over to where I'm kneeling on the wet grass. She's mewing the whole time. I offer her a plate of dry food which she begins to consume immediately. She lets me stroke her. It is an easy job to coax her into the carrier with her babies.

Although I talk very softly to them all as I carry them to the car, I try not to look at them too closely. Not to think about what I have to do next. How I have to call the animal shelter. How I have to make arrangements to take them there. They are safe and will have a chance. That's all that matters.

I start the car and begin to pull away. To my horror, another kitten appears. Quickly I stop the car and run back to rescue this one too. As I'm checking the area again, I find the sixth kitten. It is different from all the others. A beautiful, mostly yellow tabby with white, just lying there all wet in the tall grass. I run for a towel from my car. Please God, let me save this one too. But there had been too much rain, and it had been too cold.

For the first time since the discovery of the cats, I allow myself to feel the pain, anger, horror, and cruelty of what had happened. What I had known all along. Someone just dumped these beautiful creatures here. Left them here in the cold and the rain. Not just abandoned them. Betrayed them. In that moment, I scream. A deafening scream. I want this to be an epic moment where the whole world can hear a cry of mourning and a cry for justice. But it is just me. Alone in the park. With six rescued cats and one that couldn't be saved.

The next day I go to the shelter to drop off some kitten food and to see if the rescued cats are alright. A woman takes me back in the isolation area to see them. There they are, sleeping together, warm and safe. Just as they had been when I dropped them off.

The folks at the shelter have already named the mother, "Leona" and are working on names for the kittens. I feel hopeful. There is a good chance they will eventually be adopted and find their "forever" homes.

I must let you go now, Leona. Let the folks at the shelter take over and support them in your care. You'll have a home, Leona. You'll all have a home...

I am still sad about the little yellow kitten though. That one didn't need to die. Nor do the many others who are entrusted to our care.

The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel. Proverbs 12:10

Please, show mercy. If you cannot keep your cat, don't just abandon it—thinking that it can make it on its own or hoping that someone will find it before it gets hurt. Cats are domestic creatures that depend on us for survival. Without a human caretaker, their lives are usually short and miserable.

Please don't treat your cat as if he's disposable