UNIONTOWN, Ohio — Whimsical Whiskers CatFae & Rescue owner Heidi Wiegel said 16 cats are missing from the rescue shelter in Uniontown after they clawed out the window screen in her office, which was accidentally left open.
“One of our lovely fluffs decided that that was a good time to claw out the screen and took 18 other cats with them,” said Wiegel. “I think this is probably a rescue’s worst nightmare, if not pretty close.”
Thankfully, Wiegel said she’s found three cats. But 16 are still missing.
“We have been scrambling like crazy, setting traps, handing out fliers, you name it. We’re doing it,” said Wiegel.
While Wiegel and her volunteers have been doing everything they can to bring these cats home, she said it’s been challenging because a lot of them are scared and extremely vulnerable.
“We are a cat café, the cats come in through the non-profit, Whisper in Time (Companion) Re-homing, and that is specifically for people who’ve either passed away, or gone into nursing homes, assisted-living, memory-care facilities, basically end-of-life care; so, they’ve already been through a lot,” said Wiegel.
With this on her mind, Wiegel said it’s been helpful having people like Michelle Ketler step up by handing out fliers, bringing food and traps, setting them up and watching the traps all night since they can’t be left alone.
“Every one of these cats came to us from someone that entrusted us to find them their new person, so it’s our job to find them and their person. We’re not going to give up on that,” said Wiegel.
As the search continues, Wiegel said she and her team will follow leads and set traps with tuna or sardines to catch the cats’ attention.
Wiegel even welcomes anyone who is willing to donate their drone services.
“We have a couple that we know where they’re at right now, and we have set after talking to the homeowners and getting permission of course, we have set those traps on their property,” said Wiegel.
In the meantime, Wiegel said they plan to put custom-made grills on all of their windows, so this doesn’t happen again.
“To have all of these cats come home, even if it takes a month or longer, we just want to get them home where they belong,” said Wiegel.
