OLIVER — It’s a dangerous place to call home, but a pregnant cat in Oliver chose the roof of a dilapidated, asbestos filled house as the birthing place for her litter of kittens.
Sparrow the one-eyed cat gave birth to her kittens in April. She refused to bring them down from the roof and spent the next ten weeks bringing them food and caring for the young critters. But when a neighbour found out the home was set to be demolished in the coming weeks, she jumped into action to save the animals, calling local non-profit rescue group AlleyCATS Alliance.
With the dangers faced going into the home, the rescue group knew it couldn’t save the cats alone, and called on crews from Total Restoration in Penticton to help.
Workers showed up in full hazmat gear to search the dilapidated building, but came up empty handed. Rescuers then decided to set up traps to catch Sparrow and her kittens and after three days in hiding the cats took the bait.
The kittens are now in caring foster homes.
“Raven, Starling, Dickie and Pipit are healthy and well and are currently in foster care where they are enjoying three square meals a day in an air-conditioned atmosphere,” says AlleyCATS president, December van den Berg. “All will be spayed and neutered once they reach 2 lbs weight and then they will be put up for adoption.”
Mama cat, Sparrow, has a tougher road ahead of her.
“Sparrow, on the other hand, had her eye examined and needs a rather expensive surgery to repair it,” says van den Berg. “The cost of this surgery could be as high as $1000 so we are asking for public support in the form of cash donations to assist with the procedure.”
If you’d like to help Sparrow, you can donate via paypal on the AlleyCATS Alliance website at: www.alleycatsalliance.org.
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