At our hotel we befriended a cute little lady cat (and of course I forgot to take a picture of her.) She had no collar but was as friendly as could be. In fact, she ran right into our hotel room and jumped up on the bed to cuddle. One day passes and she's still there. We let her in our room again and let her eat some of Duncan's food. At this point we're pretty sure she is pregnant which is a big concern for me. We had noticed another cat who seemed to be feral to an extent. Two unaltered cats can become hundreds in a shorter time than a lot of people realize.
I went up to the hotel office to ask if maybe she was a mouser cat for them, after all, you could tell that she was once somebody's. Nope. We were going to be leaving and taking her home with us wasn't an option because we're moving, she's going to have kittens soon and not to mention Valentine isn't tolerant of cats other than Veronica. Mr. Boom and I discussed it and we couldn't just leave her. Since we're moving back in a few weeks we thought had she not been pregnant, we'd just leave her where she was and check back on her when we came returned. Let me defend myself, she had shelter, wasn't close to any busy traffic, and with our hotel being pet friendly, we had noticed other people had left food out for her. Considering some of the other conditions stray animals live in, her's wasn't so bad.
I called what I thought was the local animal control which ended up being animal control for the next town over. I know the fate of many animals who end up at animal control but figured it would be the best chance for her an her kittens. The woman I spoke with was wonderful but unfortunately, they were filled to capacity and she told me that if an officer was dispatched she'd be put down right away. Same for the actual local animal control. She gave me the name and numbers to some local rescues and told me that she knew the situation wasn't perfect but maybe leaving her be would be best considering she had a good access to food and shelter.
Okay. Now I was calling local rescue groups and none of them could take her. One, because they didn't have room for her and two, because there is a law in Georgia where all stray animals have to go to animal control first and only after that can rescues come in to help them find homes. Not even the Human Society is exempt from this law. I looked up Savannah animal control and found some information that said if you find a stray and can transport it, to just bring it in, they're open everyday. Awesome! We were running out of time before we had to come home and this seemed like the best solution.
Of course, by then it was Labor Day. Surely though they'd be open, the website said they're open everyday. We get there a little before they are due to open and wait. And wait. Then I called to find out that only the dispatch desk is open. When I said I had found a stray and was trying to turn her in, I got a very short, "Animal control is closed today." =/
Luckily (not) for our little lady, the Humane Society was right next door. They have to take her, we have no other options but to leave her in the street if they don't take her. They're closed. Womp, womp. We were walking around trying to find a place to get her through the fence. Sure, there was a sign saying not to do that but what the fuck else were we supposed to do to HELP this cat?! Thankfully, Josh went ahead and tried opening the door and it opened! We understood that the person working the desk had his hands tied. They were supposed to be closed that day and even still, they weren't allowed to take strays. We explained the situation. He reluctantly told us we could put her in the play area, where we were going to sneak her into. He said if she was still there when his manager came in a few hours, she could decide what the needed to do with her. When we took her out and he saw her it became less easy for him to just deny her, (or I'd like to think.) He said to go ahead and bring her in and he'd take care of her.
I'm so happy that Josh tried the door and that we were able to leave her in good hands but it was such a pain in the ass to get to that point. I know that shelters and rescues are full to the brim of animals that need homes. I also know that this cat commanded love and would make somebody a fantastic companion if she could only get some help finding her forever home. What were we to do? I think we went above what most people would have done. I know there isn't an easy option but I'm willing to bet that making it hard for people to try to help out animals isn't the solution.
I'm going to keep an eye out on the Savannah Human Society, animal control and rescue sites and see if I see her. If I do, I'll post her picture. Until then, I'm going to believe that she's warm and fed.
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