Did you see the story WCNC did last week about the cats abandoned as their owners vacated Morningside Apartments? Beverly Deruby, a woman who’s been rounding up help for the cats, has been flooded with calls from people looking to help. Morningside property owner Rob Pressley has given her a limited time to retrieve the cats yet to be rescued, and she’s still looking for homes for these cats (and several kittens).
For those who haven’t heard, Morningside Apartments are being torn down to make way for new condos near Plaza-Midwood. When tenants of the mammoth, affordably priced complex vacated by May 1, some left their animals behind — leaving cats waiting on doorsteps to be let back in, dogs tied to garbage cans, etc.
If she and other rescue groups can’t place the cats, they’ll most likely go to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Control. If you need an idea of what fate could befall them there, check out these euthanasia rates. In April, 74 percent of cats that came in the shelter were put to sleep.
If you can help, call Beverly at 704-975-9361. I don’t have any pictures of the Morningside cats, but maybe this picture of my cat Scout will soften your heart. If it doesn’t, well, maybe you don’t have one.
UPDATE: Beverly’s working with Friends of Feral felines to get medical care and spay/neuter surgery for the Morningside cats, according to an e-mail I received 5/21. Anyone who would like to help with the costs of that care can send donations directly to Friends of Feral Felines with a notation that the funds are to be used for the Morningside cats. Donations are tax-deductible. You can donate at the organization’s Web site with PayPal.
This article appears in May 16-22, 2007.
Karen,
Thanks for this post. I am one of the recently cleansed victims of the gentrification of Morningside, so to speak, after enjoying over ten years, and many generations of kitties, and I am here to attest to the quality of their character, which, in almost every instance, is of, if not the first, certainly the second, water. Their healing natures and regal antiquity make them valuable software indeed, but they are much greater than even that. As Kundera alluded, animals are near-perfect mirrors of our true emotional being, and will not accept merely mouthed love.
People at Morningside would feed play with the cats, but generally let them live their lives free from the confines of walls and windows. On cold nights the younger and frailer cats were brought in out of the cold, and given warm half and half. They were all everybody’s. And vice versa. We were just being good stewards of the lifeforms presented us. Some people forget that this is a main purpose of our life, but what can you do?
I hope good people will step forward and provide a nice environment for my chums. They were, for years, among the best entertainers in the community.
Long live the Morningside cats! And may my former neighbors fare well also.
-Dave