Rhonda Sheppard didn’t plan to become a cat rescuer.
While living at Big Cedar Estates, near Bass Lake, she came across a cat with a piece of lattice stuck on its head. It couldn’t lie down or eat, and it was in the dead of winter.
She called a shelter, which trapped the cat.
Soon after, “it became obvious that wasn’t the only stray cat in the park,” Sheppard said.
The person who helped her rescue the first cat continued to offer his assistance over the years, sparking a passion in Sheppard.
When she moved to Fergushill Estates in Oro-Medonte in 2019, it didn’t take long for her spot stray cats there, either. So, using the knowledge she had gained at Big Cedar Estates, she got right to work, trapping the strays.
She soon found out not everyone was as eager as she was about her endeavour.
“You have to feed them to trap them, and that’s what people didn’t like,” she said. “The cats have to trust you.”
While some neighbours allowed Sheppard onto their properties to set up traps, others weren’t as welcoming. She said she has been bullied and harassed while trying to save the cats. Some of the cats, she added, have been shot.
“They think they should just be left to nature,” she said.
Sheppard disagrees, and her efforts have resulted in about 90 cats and kittens being rescued in the past year. Street Cats Rescue, near Barrie, has taken them into its no-kill shelter and found homes for them. (Street Cats gratefully accepts donations, which are vital. Click here to go to their Facebook Page).
“I could not have done it without them,” Sheppard said.
She also received support from the online Give Orillia group, which stepped up to provide items such as blankets and bedding for the cats.
She has put a dent in the stray cat population at Fergushill Estates, saying there are now only “a handful” of them left, but that doesn’t mean her work is almost done.
“There will always be cats. They get dropped off. They multiply fast,” she said.
She will continue to trap strays and monitor trail cameras in the area.
“I just do what I can when I can,” she said. “I’m doing it for the animals, not the people. I want them to have a better life.”
She also wants people to understand the importance, and the process, of trapping cats.
“The problem isn’t crazy cat ladies; it’s crazy cat haters.”
She encourages anyone looking to adopt a cat to email Street Cats Rescue at [email protected].
