EDITOR’S NOTE: They aren’t always seen or heard, and they don’t necessarily even want attention. But what they do want is to give. Every community has them — unsung heroes who offer their time, money, energy and good will for those in need. For this holiday season, we offer a dozen profiles of those who make a difference in the South Bay and Harbor Area.
By Donna Littlejohn
donna.littlejohn@langnews.com @donnalittlejohn on Twitter
Shelter cats don’t generally have much reason to be carefree.
Confined to small cages as they wait for someone to pick them out, adopt them and take them home, they can be prone to depression as the days, weeks — and sometimes months — go by.
But thanks to a mysterious Cat Santa, the some 30 felines housed at the Harbor Animal Center in San Pedro are being treated to some very special, carefully crafted homemade toys that are the hit of the shelter’s cat room.
“Somebody has been making these cat toys and dropping them off in the cat room at the shelter,” volunteer Jane Solomon posted recently on Facebook with photos of the unique toys. “Don’t know who! They’re fabulous!”
The cats seem to agree.
The fleece, tube-shaped toys with ribbons, feathers and bells began showing up a few months ago, shelter volunteers said — a few left in the drawer of the cat room, then bags of them left anonymously.
“The cats love them,” said Patty Naegely, who coordinates the shelter’s cat area in a partnership with ASPCA. Kittens that have been separated from their litter mates, she said, especially like to snuggle with them.
Toys are important, volunteers said, as they can bring a cat to life and make an animal more appealing to prospective adopters.
“If cats are playing, they’re not going to be afraid,” cowering at the back of their cages, Naegely said.
Local Girl Scouts make cat toys out of socks that also are donated to the shelter, one of six animal facilities run by the city of Los Angeles.
But the source of the fleece toy donations remain a mystery.
About 30 of the toys, which are washable, have found their way into the shelter. They are easily stuffed and threaded through the wire cage doors, prompting the cats to bat away at the dangling ribbons and feathers hanging off the front end inside the cage.
Cat Santa may be a fellow volunteer or even a shelter staffer. But several in-house inquiries have turned up no information about who may be making the soft, cuddly toys that come in different sizes, patterns and colors.
But maybe that’s the way it should be.
After all, every kid knows that the gifts from Santa are always the best.
This much is known for sure, Naegely said: “Whoever is doing this knows cats.”
