Message from our Founder & President:

“Hope, is born of participation in hopeful solutions” – Marianne Williamson, Author

I have heard this quote a number of times recently and it has really stuck in my head because SAFE Haven for Cats has always been about hope.

Based on our life-saving results this past year, most of you believe in hope too!

Because of your involvement, SAFE Haven is leading our community with solutions for cat overpopulation and unnecessary euthanasia.

Click on the image above to read or download this issue of The Scratching Post (pdf format).

This past year:

Thanks to you, we achieved a 46% increase in the number of cats and kittens adopted. 825 stray, abandoned, injured or orphaned cats are alive and happily thriving in their homes.

Through the SAFE Care Spay / Neuter Clinic, 1,859 cats have been sterilized. Best of all, no one is ever turned away from the clinic because they don’t have enough money.

As a partner with 4 local County Animal Shelters, we responded when they were forced to start euthanizing for space. We took 236 cats from these shelters.

We supported 83 families (224 cats and 116 dogs) with food from the Pet Food Pantry (the only one in Wake County). These owners and pets have a much better quality of life because of you.

Through our TNVR assistance program for community cats we sterilized 388, loaned countless traps, and educated with hands-on contributions to many colony caretakers.

As you can see, there are many ways to participate with us in hopeful solutions. On the following pages you will read about actions you can take as a volunteer and advocate. You don’t have to have any special talents just a willingness to help.

With sincere appreciation for everything you do for the animals…

Sincere thanks,

Pamela Miller
Founder & President

Read or download this issue of The Scratching Post here!

Message from our Founder & President:

We are saving lives!

Click on the image above to read or download this issue of The Scratching Post (pdf format).

After all these years, it still amazes me how much people in our community love the cats at SAFE Haven. Every day people from the Triangle take time out of their day to help stray cats. They might come to the shelter and clean up after the cats or bring a stray cat they found to our SAFE Care Clinic. They hold a pet food drive at their place of work or make a cash donation of a few dollars. They volunteer at events around the area to connect other cat-loving people to our work and services. They sew catnip mice to sell at area veterinarian’s offices. They share our Facebook posts with their friends to help spread the word about our mission. They foster orphan kittens that have to be fed with a bottle every 3 hours for several weeks. Sometimes caring people purchase cat food at the store and donate it for our Pet Food Pantry so other people’s pets can eat. Six foot tall construction workers bring us kittens they find on job sites. People stop in the middle of the highway to rescue little kittens. Every day is simply amazing at SAFE Haven because of you—our friends and supporters.

As I reflect back on our last 12 months I am filled with gratitude. Thanks to your help, we have saved many lives, helped reduce feline euthanasia, and advanced the cause of cats as the number one pet in America. Our shared accomplishments are outlined in the Annual Report portions of this newsletter.

Not everything is rosy in animal welfare in our community and there is controversy too. We continue to work towards permanent change in our ineffective local animal control ordinances to allow for the humane management of community and feral cats. We strive to provide free pet sterilization to everyone who needs it, which means more animal shelters in North Carolina need to be able to open high volume spay/neuter clinics. We will continue to try to understand the tragedy of animal hoarding and assist other quasi-rescues who get trapped in an endless cycle of ego, unprofessionalism, and bad decision making.

We still have a lot of work to do as we begin our 23rd year together and we will strive to always be business-like, transparent, trustworthy and to make good decisions for the cats we all love so much.

With great hope for the future . . .

Sincere thanks,

Pamela Miller
Founder & President