Bethel Park cat rescue damaged after car crashes into building
A cat rescue in Allegheny County went from opening its first brick-and-mortar location this month to cleaning up a huge mess after someone crashed their car into their building.
Cali Cats Rescue, which is primarily foster-based, held a grand opening for its home in Bethel Park on July 6. The building gives the rescue much-needed space to help more felines. But things took a bad turn on Monday afternoon.
Director Amanda Jeney said something terrible happened as several kitties were hanging out in the community room and a volunteer was getting some work done.
"She called, and she is very calm and collected and cool, and said, 'Hi, someone drove through your building,'" Jeney said.
She shared a Ring video showing the moments after a large cat tree and other items flew across the room when the car hit the building.
"Those poor cats, two of them were in the hammocks on the windows, and, like, one just, you know, tumbled out of the hammock, and shot for the couch," Jeney said.
Jeney said while most hid under the couch, one of the cats scurried into a difficult spot.
"We had one that did get between the interior and exterior walls, our fan favorite, Pretzel. He is a little bit wild, but always makes us laugh and smile, and one of the Bethel Park police officers was able to get him out," she said.
The cats are OK, but there are now crushed bricks, a buckled window frame and no power to the front of the building.
"That really does limit some of the things that we can do in the next upcoming weeks," Jeney said.
"To go there and see it all boarded up now and dark, it's heartbreaking. It was full of spunk and cats, and watching them play and be safe and healthy and living their lives somewhere was all the hard work had paid off. And then that happened," she added.
Enough volunteers offered to take in the six cats, and also a mama cat and her babies, until someone can adopt them.
"We got flooded with messages that people could temporarily house cats, which made us feel great. It was very, very touching, and I was beyond thankful. The community really, really stepped up," said Jeney.
Now, the problem is the recue's long wait-list and not getting more behind without its new building.
"For example, this week, we had a mom and babies waiting, we had a couple adults waiting, we have a whole situation waiting, and the requests still keep coming," Jeney said.
While they work on getting repairs made so the recue can reopen, Jeney's hoping more people will step up and lend a paw. There are a number of ways you can help , including fostering, adopting, or donating. It also has a few upcoming events.
On Aug. 24, the rescue is hosting its third annual Kitty Kraze and vendor show at Mingo Creek County Park from noon to 4 p.m. There will be food, beverages, vendors, contests, a basket raffle, a 50/50 raffle, photos and adoptable kitties.
The rescue is also planning to move an event that was supposed to take place at its facility on July 30, but now it's hoping to host an adoption event at Pet Supplies Plus in Bethel Park that day.
Pastries A-La-Carte in West Mifflin will bake cat cookies, some will be lookalikes to a handful of Cali Cats' adoptable kitties. The cat cookies will be on sale Aug. 8 and 9, and proceeds will go to Cali Cats Rescue.
