Cat rescue volunteer marks 40 years after helping more than 4,000 cats

Nation.Cymru staff

A dedicated cat lover is celebrating 40 years of helping cats in need, having played a leading role in cat welfare and rehoming and helped more than 4,000 cats since starting out alone in 1986.

Carol Evans set up Cats Protection Newtown & District after being called on to help a member of public vaccinate 150 cats in October 1986. Since then, around 4,000 cats have been helped by the group of volunteers.

Evans a former bank worker, explains: “I’d heard of a lady who was rescuing cats and she called me one day and asked me if I could use a needle to help vaccinate cats. I’d been used to vaccinating sheep on the family farm, but I turned up and there were over 150 cats! I vaccinated every single one of them from first thing in the morning until it got dark.”

Thankfully things have changed since she was doing it all herself and before long the branch was formed.

She adds: “I could tell this lady had become quite overwhelmed with the number of cats she’d taken on and a short while later was explaining the situation to a group of fellow animal-lovers including a lady who was a member of Cats Protection.

“We talked about how we could help and that’s how the Newtown and District Branch was created on October 11th 1986.”

Education and advice

Although the volunteer team rehomes around 100 cats a year, it helps many more through education and advice.

Evans says: “There was a farmer in one of the villages and he was overrun with cats. We decided he needed a TNR job in which we trap the cats, neuter them and return them. I left some traps and told him to let me know if he had any trouble.

“He called me over and said, ‘I’ve got them all now, all except that tortoiseshell. She’s got a bad leg so I don’t think the boys will fancy her. She won’t need neutering.’

“I explained to him that cats don’t care who they go with – it can even be their mother, grandmother or auntie if they wanted to! I often have to remind the owners of mixed-sex siblings that they too can have their own kittens. A lot of what we do is about educating people to help manage the cat population.”

Further information about the benefits of neutering and support Cats Protection offers can be found here.

Willow

Just one of the cats currently in care of the branch is five-year-old tabby-and-white Willow who was left at a local vet practice to be euthanised owing to age and incontinence.

Upon investigation, the practice found her to be much younger than believed and her incontinence was likely to have been caused by stress.

She was entrusted to the branch where volunteers have worked to build her confidence and the once shy, scared moggy is now sweet-natured and friendly, looking for a home of her own where she can settle at her own pace and enjoy being a cherished companion.

Despite having celebrated 40 years with the branch, and helped many cats like Willow, Evans has no intention of slowing down.

“If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t want a penny of it, I’d give it all to Cats Protection,” she says. “I’d go nuts if I had nothing to do. This keeps me out of mischief!”

Among the celebrations taking place to mark the branch’s 40 years in Newtown, Evans received a statue of a cat and a kitten which has joined Carol’s Murphy Award, a striking dark bronze cat statue created by a sculptor who adopted two cats from Cats Protection, one of which was called Murphy and gave the award its name.

The award honours more than 25 years of volunteering and both statues recognise an exceptional contribution to the charity.

To find out more about Cats Protection Newtown & District, or to enquire about adopting Willow, visit here.