The Next Day...

I woke up the next day with every intention of saving every single one of those cats and kittens. My mother was on the same page as our family has always been huge on rescuing animals, but we had never encountered a rescue this big and we were not sure where to start. I did bring water to the property for the kittens that morning and have been making sure they always have water since.

The first call I made was to North Country Animal League. I explained to the receptionist that I was not sure who I needed to speak with and went on to tell her about the situation. She did seem genuinely concerned and told me that I needed to contact the animal control officer for the town of Cambridge. I looked him up. His name was Dave Jones. I called and left a message with his wife. From there I called the Chittenden County Humane Society because I wanted to get as much help as I could with this situation. They basically just told me to call animal control as well. I then made a call to the Franklin County Humane Society hoping they would say anything other than to call animal control.

The receptionist at Franklin County immediately took down an official report of the goings on at the property in Cambridge. She pointed out that because it was Cambridge that it would fall into North Country Animal League's hands as it was Lamoille County and really was NCAL's territory. I went home that night and waited to hear back from Dave Jones (animal control).

I did not hear from Dave that night but I did get a phone call from Chris Nilsen. Chris is from the Franklin County Humane Society and she had been sent out that night to check out the situation first hand on the property. She was as horrified as I was about what was going on there. She took pictures to document the situation and even took one of the kittens home that night. The kitten she took home was by far the weakest and most sick of the bunch. I had nicknamed her Shiloh and was so concerned about her myself, but I couldn't bring her home because I had cats of my own and didn't want to expose them to whatever diseases that Shiloh was potentially carrying.

She took over care of Shiloh and immediately started her on antibiotics, wormed her, and washed the crusty infection from her eyes. Shiloh probably would have died within a day or two if Chris had not chosen to take her. To this day Shiloh is healthy and happy and still residing with Chris until she is found a forever home.

Chris was very serious about rescuing the kittens from the property and helped me to make a game plan. One of the first things she said was that we would need to find someone with a barn or a place that we could keep these kittens while we took care of them because the local shelters were all at capacity and there were so many that needed help. I told her my mother and I would be more than happy to take care of all of these kittens and that not only did my mother have a barn, but she also had a couple of spare rooms off of her house that were originally sort of like an apartment and not in use at the time.

That took care of the space issue, but there were other hurdles to get over. We still had not obtained legal permission to remove the kittens and then there was the issue of money. These kittens were going to need medications, food, crates, kitty litter, and flea removal. My mother and I have animals of our own and not a lot to spare. Chris suggested that we call North Country Animal League because it was their territory, and explain to them that we were not asking for space in their shelter or for help in taking care of these kittens... all we would need was help with the above named supplies.

Meanwhile, there wasn't much time to wait for an answer from NCAL because the very next morning another kitten lay dead in the driveway. I wasn't going to let it happen to anymore. My mother was completely on board and ready to take in some rescued babies.

I called Dave Jones again and caught him at home. I identified myself to him and told him that I was calling about the propery in Cambridge that was full of cats and kittens. He immediately cut me off and said "I know all about that property. I have been dealing with it for years. There is nothing I can do. There is not enough space in shelters and there is no where else to put them." I was a little taken aback at how quick he was to say there was nothing he could do when his job is to deal with situations like this. I went on to tell him that we did have a place to put them and that we intended to try to partner with NCAL for support. He said that was fine and when did we want to go and get the kittens. He was willing to go in with us and asked if I wanted a health control officer there as well. I am not sure why we would have needed one, but I said sure that would be fine. I didn't care what it took. I just wanted to save those babies.