AR-News: (AK - US) Woman goes extra mile to adopt Canada tabby

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Woman goes extra mile to adopt Canada tabby

By AMANDA BOHMAN, Staff Writer

An abandoned Canadian tabby cat featured on a cat lovers' Web site three 
months ago arrived in Fairbanks this week following an international effort to 
rescue the homeless feline.The effort to get the cat to its new home in Fairbanks 
was dubbed Project Orange by members of an online cat discussion group and 
involved residents of Alaska, Michigan, Florida, Arizona and Ontario, Canada. "I 
don't know, I guess we're all just crazy cat ladies," said Mello-Dee Simmons, 
a computer analyst from St. Augustine, Fla., who donated 25,000 airline miles 
and $75 to transport the cat here. "It makes me feel good to help, even if 
it's just one cat at a time."Fairbanks resident Catherine Harr, a 22-year-old 
mortgage loan processor, adopted the cat, a male she is calling Orange. Harr 
decided to take in the cat after seeing his picture on the Web site 
http://cats.about.com in November and has spent at least $500 on the effort.      

She said it's hard to find words for why she has gone to such great lengths 
to adopt this cat. A volunteer at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal 
Shelter, Harr is well aware that plenty of cats in Fairbanks need homes."It's hard 
to describe unless you're an animal lover," Harr said. "It just clicked ... . 
There was just something when I saw him."The effort began when Orange wandered 
into the front yard of Pam Quinn, a college student in Belleville, Ontario, 
and she began feeding him. Quinn had tried to place the cat at shelters in 
Toronto, two hours from her home, but was unsuccessful. Quinn, who already has 10 
cats, could not take him in."I have way too many cats," she said. "If we did 
not have 10 cats, we would have kept him for sure."So she posted Orange's 
picture on the cat enthusiasts' Web site. After Harr saw the picture, she spent 
three hours persuading her husband, an F-16 fighter jet mechanic on Eielson Air 
Force Base, to let her adopt him. The couple already has three cats, including 
two other orange tabbies."I just told him exactly how I felt," Harr said. "I 
could not leave this cat on the streets, and I could not allow him to be 
euthanized."After she got the OK, Harr sent money to Quinn to have Orange, whose 
estimated age is 2 to 4 years old, vaccinated and neutered.A third cat forum 
member drove from her home outside of Detroit across the border to Belleville to 
pick up Orange in January and foster him until he could get passage to 
Fairbanks. That happened when yet another forum member, of St. Catharine's, Ontario, 
convinced a relative to accompany Orange on the trip. A cat forum member in 
Arizona donated a leash and walking jacket, which is like a harness for 
cats."I've never met these people," Harr said. "But we talk online and e-mail so much 
it feels like we know each other."Orange arrived on Alaska Airlines Flight 145 
on Tuesday, about five hours late and in surprisingly good spirits.Harr took 
him home before removing him from the cat carrier. Orange has a dark orange 
stripe down his spine with lighter stripes fanning out. He sniffed around the 
guest bedroom where he was let loose, rolled around on the floor and purred to 
Harr's touch. "Look at you," Harr said to the kitty. "I can't believe you're 
here."Reporter Amanda Bohman can be reached at abohman at newsminer.com or 459-7544.

    


    

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