GRANTSVILLE, Utah — A local animal rescue is overwhelmed with cats and is seeking support to meet the demand for food, medical care, and space.
Bella's Forever Friends Feline Rescue in Grantsville is caring for several cats according to the project manager, Matthew Camacho.
“50-60 cats here alone. We have multiple foster homes,” saidCamacho.
The non-profit organization relies entirely on volunteers and donations to keep the operation running.
"Wet food, scooping, watching if they’re sick or not,” said Lead Technician Darcy Ottley, describing the daily tasks. “You get so much joy out of coming and helping them,” said Ottley.
Camacho explained that caring for all the animals is pricey, and the rescue is flooded with surrender messages nearly every day.
“If they let them outside, there’s more cats, or if they dump them, there’s more cats,” said Ottley.
Many surrenders are from pet owners who can no longer afford to care for their animals.
“It comes down to a lot of factors. Some of it is economical, some of it is people moving into apartments or townhouses, and they can’t have animals,” said Camacho.
Tooele County Animal Control is also seeing an uptick in stray and surrendered animals.
“We’ve seen an increase over the last couple of years. I do know that only because I’ve had to budget larger amounts. Due to the growing population in Tooele County, our animal shelter needs have gone up,” said Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer.
As a private organization, Bella’s Rescue explained that it does not receive any city or county funding. They hope to gain financial support from local governments.
“That’s where a lot of money would probably go, paying off spay and neuter and food,” Camacho said.
Both the rescue and the sheriff are encouraging pet owners to take preventative measures.
“We never have an animal problem. What we have is an irresponsible animal ownership problem,” said Wimmer.
Camacho added a plea to all pet owners: “Please spay and neuter your animals.”
