Burgeoning veteran-founded cat rescue in Beaver County seeks community support

When Mary Kotuba returned to Beaver County a decade ago, she quickly noticed the legion of hungry and injured stray cats roaming the sidewalks.

Kotuba, 59, an Ellwood City native and Riverside High graduate, had lived in Atlanta following a 20-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps that culminated in her retirement as a master sergeant. She moved back to the Keystone State to care for her brother, a single parent with acute myeloid leukemia, and his children.

“I would go out in the yard with the kids, and I’d see these cats running around starving,” Kotuba said. “I would see kittens on the sidewalks. Some had their eyes crusted shut with infection and crust on their noses. I saw a mother cat with two kittens living in a groundhog hole with a mother groundhog and her two babies. I noticed cats on almost every block. They were all searching for food. I realized this was a huge problem.”

Kotuba started feeding and sheltering cats in Beaver Falls and nearby municipalities, trapping strays to be spayed or neutered, treated for illness, and, when possible, placed with foster families for rehoming.

Years later, Semper Fi Felines & Mary's Misfits has an emergent social media presence aimed at bolstering the organization's donor and volunteer network.

Since its inception, Semper Fi Felines & Mary's Misfits has been funded primarily by Kotuba and supported by a small number of volunteers. This is unsustainable given the formidable, ever-increasing stray cat population in the area, she said.

“There is a great need for volunteers because the requests for help with feral and stray cats is overwhelming," Kotuba said. “A lot of the cats and kittens we rescue come from residents of Beaver Falls contacting us about cats that need help. We help people who don't have the money to cover the cost of spay or neuter. We need volunteers to feed, trap, transport and foster and monetary donations.”

Crystal Bryant, 51, and Jessica Nold, 37, recently joined Semper Fi Felines & Mary's Misfits to strengthen rescue efforts and raise awareness by launching a Facebook page and Amazon Wishlist.

Bryant knew Kotuba through the “cat rescue scene,” feeding, sheltering, trapping, neutering and rehoming cats independently for years out of pocket. In addition to community trapping, she now helps organize fundraising, adoptions and volunteers for Semper Fi Felines.

“For me, the reward is in finding a loving, forever, indoor home,” Bryant said. “Many of the street cats we ‘rescue’ were once somebody's pet. They get dumped outside for various reasons and are almost never spayed/neutered. The ferals, the truly wild unadoptable ones, are prevented from future reproduction and returned to their areas. We have made accommodations to provide future care, daily food and winter shelter.”

Trapping is time-consuming and requires boundless patience, she said.

“You are outside in all weather, watching and waiting,” Bryant said. “Some days the cats cooperate, and some days they don't. Giving up because it's difficult is not an option.”

She recently devoted more than two weeks to trapping a litter of kittens in Eastvale, securing all but one and returning daily to finish the rescue.

“I just can't stand the thought of his siblings going on to loving homes and him still being on the streets,” Bryant said. “Trapping mama for spay and release will be next, but I can't take her away from the site until the last baby is caught.”

When a resident contacted Bryant about 16 indoor cats dumped at an abandoned property last month, she put out a call for help on Facebook. Nold responded to the request, and “we had them all trapped within a few days, and all were spayed/neutered and placed for adoption,” Bryant said.

The two joined Semper Fi Felines soon after.

Nold, a new mother and the rescue’s professional photographer, offered her home as a temporary adoption center. She handles donation pick-ups, computer work and care for adoptable cats. She’s also building a dog boarding, training and photography business.

“We have dreams of a brick-and-mortar location in the future,” Bryant said.

They’ve even recruited a contractor, Brian Brkovich, to build an on-site feral "catio" to accommodate heated winter shelter.

“That will enable us to hold ferals which require medical care or monitoring,” Bryant said.

Intake and daily operations are organized by urgency, and needs shift with the seasons.

“Currently, we are taking many ‘motherless kitten’ litters,” Bryant said. “We have recruited fosters to socialize them and prepare them for adoption. With the weather changing to winter, bringing in kittens and trapping fertile mamas is our focus.”

Semper Fi Felines is looking for volunteers to feed area cat colonies, provide foster homes and more. Residents can also help by donating financially or purchasing items from the group’s Wishlist.

“This is a labor of love,” Bryant said. “The need is never-ending. The financial drain is enormous. In the last 30 days, the cost has been $2,000 and the monetary donations were $100. Without increased community support, we will not be able to continue.”

Among the more distressing aspects of community cat rescue, Bryant said, is working to pacify people who “become enraged” at efforts to trap, feed, or otherwise care for stray cats.

“We've had people throw poison pods in front of us, stomp on food bowls, call the police, threaten to kill the cats … that's the very scary side of it,” she said. “If I could educate the public on one importance, it would be the necessity to spay or neuter their pets. This entire situation is out of hand because of the lack of spaying and neutering. And please, if you cannot help them, don't harm them.”

After nearly 10 years of cat rescue, Kotuba said easing suffering remains an invaluable prize.

“Most people aren't aware of the suffering,” she said. “We have found cats in horrific situations. Also, it’s heartwarming to know that we've helped people with pets they love dearly or helped people spay/neuter the feral cats they feed before a few turn into a lot.”

To contact Semper Fi Felines & Mary's Misfits, visit the rescue’s Facebook page or email semperfifelines.marysmisfits@gmail.com. Find the team’s Amazon Wishlist at shorturl.at/eQY14.

This story was updated.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Burgeoning veteran-founded cat rescue in Beaver County seeks support