The regular calm, cozy ambiance of Big Run Kava Bar, located on 72 N. Court St., was mixed with meows Saturday for the Find Your Purrfect Match Adoption Event with Feral Ladies Cat Rescue.
Feral Ladies Cat Rescue, based out of Hocking County, is a team of seven women who work to foster, fundraise and hold adoption events for feral and rescue cats.
Shaylee Tucker, owner of Big Run, said hosting events for locals to come and hang out is a big focus of kava bars around the nation.
“It’s very important to us,” Tucker said. “It’s very important to me. We moved to Athens kind of right when we opened the bar, and I just really wanted to get close to the community, so I felt like these events was a way to do so.”
Kava bars are designed to be spaces for people to socialize and connect with others without alcohol. Big Run hosts weekly events to engage with the people of Athens.
“Our first cat adoption event was last month,” Tucker said. “It kind of was turning out to be my favorite, but we have trivia every Wednesday night and it’s a really nice way of seeing a lot of my regulars all at one time.”
For Feral Ladies Cat Rescue, adoption events such as the one at Big Run are essential.
“When we foster from our homes, we need to get out in the community and let the community know who we are,” Elizabeth Hoskins, who founded Feral Ladies Cat Rescue with her friend, Annie, said. “We do a lot of Facebook and stuff like that, but these events are definitely promoting for us.”
A report on feral cat populations by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals estimates between 60 and 100 million stray cats live in the U.S. Athens is home to a portion of these cats. Feral Ladies Cat Rescue started with about five cats, and now there are around 70 cats in its care.
“We have seven fosters and we do multiple events a month,” Hoskins said. “... We help people with their vet bills if we can. We do a lot of TNR-ing in our community.”
TNR stands for trap, neuter, return, which involves catching a cat, getting it neutered or spayed and then returning it to the wild. TNR is an effective practice for helping to curb cat overpopulation.
Saige Eversyn, who does public relations for Feral Ladies Cat Rescue, attends the adoption events to encourage people to learn more about adopting a cat.
“Me being out here, I feel like that makes their job a little bit easier, so they can just focus on the cats,” Eversyn said. “But being with the organization, it’s a very good decision that I made.”
Eversyn said organizing an adoption event takes a lot of coordination to ensure all the moving parts come together.
“(It’s) making sure all the board members are able to attend,” Eversyn said. “If they’re not able to attend, we have to figure out who’s going to grab their cats, and also speaking with our fosters. We have multiple people who foster for us, so making sure that they’re able to bring their cats. If we’re limited on cats, we have to figure out which cats we can bring.”
With each adoption event, Feral Ladies Cat Rescue also hosts a fundraiser.
“So a lot of times, people in the community will donate,” Hoskins said. “... People will donate baked goods, that’s our main fundraiser right now.”
At Saturday’s event, which ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., four kittens were adopted. Feral Ladies Cat Rescue posts cats available for adoption on its Facebook page.
“The rescue provides everything for the fosters,” Eversyn said. “The only stress you have is just taking care of the cats, just making sure that they’re isolated and you do everything right with them. But they make everything really easy, and they’re a great group of people.”
