HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - UPDATE: Volunteers at Cedar County League for Animal Welfare stepped in and rescued all 9 kittens from the Hiawatha location.
Cedar County League for Animal Welfare (CCLAW) says it’s being helped by the Animal Resource Foundation (ARF) out of Center Point and Iowa Humane Alliance (IHA) in Cedar Rapids.
In a statement to TV9, the nonprofit said, “While we, just like other shelters/rescues, are oversaturated with animals who need help it was something that needed to be done. The kittens are now safe with us and will receive the care they need. Now, we are looking for qualified foster homes for them.”
Interested fosters must live in Cedar County. The rescue needs to keep foster families close in order to check in on the foster animals frequently. You can fill out the foster application by clicking HERE.
Cedar County League for Animal Welfare is hosting a kitten adoption event on July 19 and 20 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at The Gathering (519 Cedar Street) in Tipton. This event is expected to have 30-40 kittens looking for new homes.
You are asked to fill out applications ahead of time to allow time for our pre-approval process. You can fill out the adoption application HERE.
If you’re interested in making a donation to help with the care of the kittens, you can donate through Venmo by using CCLAW1 or PayPal.
Cedar County League for Animal Welfare plans is to give ARF 50% of all donations received to our organization for helping to cover some of the cost associated with this rescue.
HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) - Area shelters are having to turn away cats and dogs because of how full they are.
It’s dinner time for the stray kittens that Laure Kottman and her friend are caring for in Hiawatha.
Right now, the kittens are living in a garage as the two look after them.
“My girlfriend, whose house we’re at, she’s been feeding the cats for a long time, over the winter, and then the kittens showed up,” Kottman said.
The mother cats have since moved on, so Kottman is hopeful the kittens can move on, too, to warm, loving homes.
“We’ve been in touch with rescues all over,” Kottman said.
Those rescues say they can’t help. Because right now, many cages are full.
“I don’t know what the answer is, we just keep hoping, keep our fingers crossed, hoping we’ll hear back from somebody, somebody will have space. That’s about our only option,” Kottman said.
One adoption facility she called: Last Hope Animal Rescue.
“Adoptions are down, that’s nationally, donations are down nationally,” said Sonia Brandley, the founder of Last Hope Animal Rescue.
They’re full too. Brandley says this year has been especially hard for the rescue all around.
“We have to turn animals away every day,” Sonia said. ”Our happy number is about 30 here at the adoption center, and I think we’re floating right around 40/42."
For now, there just aren’t many options for kittens like these other than preventing them from being born.
“There’s organizations in town that will step in and help you trap a cat and then they trap, neuter, return, and that’s about what we have right now because there’s just no room in the shelters,” Brandley said.
For Kottman, she’s hopeful some rescue will have space to help the kittens sooner rather than later.
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