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Community Heroes: Saving Graces
ASPCA® Mission: OrangeTM strives to build humane communities throughout the country—and we recently met some young Philadelphians who are getting started in their own backyard. When the Townsend kids—Joanne, 24, Malcolm, 13, Jay Frye, 12 and Nevaeh, 5—found a mother cat and her kittens living in a bush behind their house, they were determined to get the animals to the safety of a shelter. “In our neighborhood, stray kittens never live,” says the kids’ mom, Camille.
Joanne was the first to notice the kittens huddled in a cinderblock. When she called local animal control to have them picked up, she was told the kittens had to be confined first. So the kids and their mom set out to catch the cats and get them safely into carriers.
“The whole rescue took almost an hour,” Camille reports. “The kittens had a lot of energy and were fighting hard. One even jumped off a ledge and landed in a trash can filled with rain water. The kids hurried to keep the little one from drowning,” continues Camille. “When they caught him, my daughter dried him off and wrapped him in a sweater until he got warm.”
The Townsends have been rescuing animals for years―and a few have become permanent members of the household. A cat whom they saved last year is now part of the family, and they also adopted one of the kittens from their most recent mission.
“I have loved animals all my life,” Joanne tells us. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to become a vet or an animal cop. I see so many people mistreat their animals and I wish I had the authority to do something about it. I think that one person really can make a difference, and one day I hope that's me.”
Megan Kane, Assistant Team Leader for ASPCA Mission: Orange in Philadelphia, says, “This story truly shows how building humane communities begins with its youngest members. These animal advocates deserve to be recognized for their humane attitudes.”
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