05/16/2025
😿A Hard Truth About Rescue — and a Promise to Do Better
Tonight, a situation that has been slowly unfolding finally came to a head. I find myself feeling both deeply grateful and incredibly frustrated.
About a week and a half ago, I was en route to meet with another rescue contact about some kittens. I decided to stop for a coffee, took a wrong turn, and while navigating a busy shopping plaza, I saw her—a mama cat clearly in distress. After speaking with several store employees, I learned that this wasn’t an isolated case. There are *many* unfixed, friendly, and semi-feral cats living in the Costco parking lot in a bustling area of town.
After the visit myself, I reached out to Constance, a dedicated fellow animal advocate who lives much closer to the site than I do (I'm about 45 minutes away). I asked her to monitor the situation and see what we could do to trap, fix, and hopefully find homes for the cats—especially the mama and her babies.
While doing surveillance, Constance discovered a beautiful orange cat who, from a distance, appeared to have a severe neck injury—what looked like a slit throat. Alarmed and limited in resources, she reached out to a well-known local rescue figure and group on Facebook, hoping for support. What followed was heartbreaking.
Despite multiple conversations, it became clear that this colony was already known to some rescuers, including the person she contacted. Not only did they mislead Constance, pretending to want to help, they had already known about the injured cat and **chose to do nothing**—all because of personal politics and opinions about the person who brought the issue to light.
Once I was made aware of this shocking disregard for an animal in pain, I immediately contacted my friend and fierce advocate, Ally Zacovic. We made a plan to act—because there was **no way** we were going to let this helpless creature spend one more day in agony. Every day this cat remained out there, he was suffering—scratching at his open wound, fighting to survive while people who claim to care about animals stood by and watched.
If I hadn’t witnessed this myself, I would have had a hard time believing that someone in rescue could behave this way. No calls were made to other groups, no offers of help extended—just silence and a total lack of compassion because of a petty grudge.
Let me be clear: **It should never matter who brings a situation to your attention. What should matter is the animal in need.** Rescue should never be about power, popularity, or control. And yet too often, that's what it becomes. This is exactly why I left a larger organization to found **Kai’s Place**—to get back to what rescue should be: working with the community to help the animals we’ve sworn to protect.
The sweet orange boy is now in our care and on his way to receive emergency treatment. I promise to give him every bit of the care and compassion he was previously denied. He matters, and we will show him that.
Kai’s Place is still a small and growing rescue. In less than a year, we’ve saved and adopted out nearly 300 cats and kittens, many of whom were considered “too difficult” by other, larger organizations. We receive no grant funding yet due to our age, and everything we've done so far has been funded out of pocket—with love and determination.
Rescue isn’t glamorous. It’s exhausting, heartbreaking, and often thankless. But we do it because these animals need us—**all** of us. And if your reason for entering this work is recognition or control, then you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
Now for the good news: This precious boy is safe. He’s receiving the urgent medical attention he so desperately needs. His recovery will be long and costly, but we’re in it with him every step of the way. If you’d like to contribute to his healing, donations can be made at [kaisplacekittyrescue.com] (http://kaisplacekittyrescue.com)—all donations are tax-deductible.
Or donate to his care at https://gofund.me/cbccbb3c
To our supporters: thank you. We will always advocate for what is right, even if it means ruffling feathers. We will not allow personal egos or petty politics to come before an animal in need. They deserve better, and **we** must be better.
With gratitude and fierce compassion,
Brittany De Soto
Founder, Kai’s Place Kitty Rescue
