Kelly Stinson, volunteer at Saving One Life, cuddles certainly one of her foster cats, Hank, on Feb. 28, 2024, in Chandler. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – According to the annual Shelters Animal Count report, 41% of cats that ended up in Arizona shelters within the first quarter of this 12 months have been strays. There are many animal organizations that contribute to the well-being and take care of these cats. Cronkite News adopted volunteers with one organization to see what it takes to get a cat from the chilly streets to a heat, secure home.
Saving One Life is a nonprofit organization that gives take care of at-risk cats and dogs by means of foster and adoption applications. Anna Zhundrikova, is a volunteer who helps coordinate the organization’s Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program. According to Saving One life, it makes use of TNR to humanely entice feral cats and spay or neuter them with the intention to assist lower the inhabitants. Once the cats have healed, they’re returned to the colony within the space the place they have been trapped.
Zhundrikova spends many nights per week driving round to totally different areas to feed homeless cats in Phoenix. Colony feeding, because it’s recognized, normally takes place late within the night when the cats are most lively. Zhundrikova mentioned she continues to volunteer as a result of she has compassion for animals and doesn’t need to see them undergo.
Zoe Zaine and Clover Kay, wait to be adopted on Feb. 14, 2024, on the Saving One Life location in PetSmart in Phoenix. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
“I’ve always been one that is passionate about the community, no matter how that looks, whether that’s animal-related or human, and this is just another one of those things where it impacts us in a way that I think a lot of people don’t realize,” Zhundrikova mentioned.
Saving One Life distributes roughly 1,000 kilos of cat meals per week to recognized colonies, based on the web site.
Many of the cats volunteers encounter will probably be trapped with the intention to decide whether or not they’re appropriate for fostering or in the event that they should be spayed or neutered. If the cats can not be domesticated as a result of being within the wild for too lengthy, Saving One Life will deal with them for well being points, neuter or spay them after which launch them. Saving One Life offers for about 800 cats across the Phoenix space day-after-day, based on its web site.
Saving One Life volunteer Kelly Stinson weighs a cat as a part of her necessities as a foster dad or mum on Feb. 28, 2024, in Chandler. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
Fostering is one other a part of the group’s mission. After a cat is trapped and deemed appropriate for fostering, it’s placed with a volunteer. Once a cat is in a foster home, it will get day by day love, consideration and medical therapy, together with flea baths and drugs for deworming, day by day weight checks and vaccines for widespread illnesses.
Hank, certainly one of Kelly Stinson’s foster cats, receives his deworming medication on Feb. 28, 2024, in Chandler. Stinson has fostered a complete of 75 cats, and all of them have discovered properties. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
Saving One Life volunteer Kelly Stinson mentioned she by no means deliberate to foster cats, however as soon as her son began volunteering on the PetSmart, she found her love of fostering.
“It just feels really good to be able to give back to the community this way. It just breaks my heart any time I think about any animal that’s been abandoned or mistreated, and for me to be able to give a cat a chance to go into a loving home just makes me feel like I’m contributing,” Stinson mentioned.
Jojo Wangler, 7, a Saving One Life volunteer, pets a cat on Feb. 14, 2024, at PetSmart in Phoenix. She volunteers together with her mother, Rylie Wangler, and her sister to assist cats and bond together with her household. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
Cats who want further medical care are seen by veterinarians, and each cat is spayed or neutered earlier than they’re adopted out. Cats prepared for adoption usually go to PetSmart areas all through Arizona or to the Kitty Pause Kitty Café in Mesa. Rylie Wangler, a PetSmart volunteer, performs with and cares for the kitties together with her two daughters. She mentioned volunteering is a method of bonding together with her youngsters and that she enjoys seeing the cats discover loving properties. “I would say the next piece for me is to find their forever home. It’s the whole process. It’s so heartwarming,” Wangler mentioned.
From left, Hannah Galaxy, 10, and Cathy Christensen, volunteer at Saving One Life inside PetSmart in Phoenix on March 20, 2024. Christensen has been volunteering for 3 years. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
Saving One Life volunteer Kelly Stinson feeds cats on the Kitty Pause Kitty Café in Mesa on Feb. 28, 2024. Kitty Pause Kitty Café companions with Saving One Life on cat adoptions. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
Cats sniff one another on the Kitty Pause Kitty Café on Feb. 28, 2024, in Mesa. (Photo by Mariah Temprendola/Cronkite News)
Saving one Life is a never-kill shelter, that means it should present all veterinary wants for animals and solely take into account euthanasia when all medical choices are exhausted, based on its web site.
Stinson says it’s heartbreaking to her when she sees a helpless animal deserted. “I think some people aren’t wired to believe that animals are at the same level as humans. It makes me very sad because people that put kittens in a garbage bag and throw them in a trash can don’t view animals as their equal. I can’t relate to that at all,” Stinson mentioned.
