The responsibility of caring for hundreds of cats may overwhelm some, but for Toni Ray, taking care of a dozen cat colonies is simply part of her daily routine.
Ray is the founder of Community Cat Advocacy Team of Springfield (CCATS), a licensed cat rescue operating in Springfield and the surrounding areas. She’s operated the rescue since 2014, but her foray into animal rescue began at 5 years old, when she said her grandma taught her how to care for kittens. Her dad would tell her, “If they’re out there, they’re going to find you.”
Decades down the line, Ray is fielding calls and messages every day regarding cats in need of a helping hand.
Community Cat Advocacy Team of Springfield’s local impact by the numbers
Ray said the amount of care she provides has drastically increased over the years. Within the first 10 months of CCATS’s establishment in 2014, she said she had performed 174 trap-neuter-returns (TNR), established 10 neighborhood cat colonies, rescued and rehomed 51 cats and had 17 cats in transition in her own home. So far this year, Ray said the rescue averages 22 TNRs a month, feeds and cares for 17 neighborhood cat colonies with 260 cats total and adopts out 14 cats per month…