Bluffton feral cat colony ‘obliterated’ by vandals. Who’s behind this cat-astrophe?
Morning trips to the feral cat colony are usually uneventful. Volunteers visit every day, greeting their feline friends and refilling food and water bowls.
But last weekend, a volunteer found the sanctuary in shambles.
On Monday, the Bluffton Police Department received a report of vandalism to one of the town’s feral cat colonies, located behind Pritchardville Elementary School.
The colony, consisting of three wooden shelters and typically teeming with furry inhabitants, had been “totally obliterated,” a volunteer told the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette. All three structures — and most of the feeding bowls — had been smashed.
No cats are believed to have been harmed, according to Bonifacio Perez, a spokesperson for the Bluffton Police Department. And due to the lack of surveillance footage of the area, no suspects have been named.
But without their colony, the neighborhood’s wild cats have nowhere else to turn.
“They’re all just a little freaked out,” the volunteer said. “These cats don’t have homes.”
The sanctuary is one of about 20 across the county, organized by Hilton Head’s All About Cats nonprofit and staffed entirely by volunteers. Each colony is home to dozens of cats, and new residents appear often — when a wild cat is rescued, the organization follows the philosophy of “trap, neuter and release” (TNR), so each cat community can thrive without the risk of overpopulation.
As the first person to discover the vandalism, the volunteer, who asked to remain anonymous, said it saddened her to see the damage.
“I volunteer my time, I feed them on my own time,” she said. “It’s kind of disheartening that they did something like this.”
Another volunteer plans to scope out the area this weekend to determine whether any parts of the structures are salvageable, or if the sanctuary will have to be rebuilt from the ground up.
In the meantime, any Lowcountry resident wanting to help out can find out how to get involved on All About Cats’ website.
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 5:05 PM.
