Pride Of NZ: Help and a home for unwanted cats

Mary Lou Nation found new homes for 65 kittens and seven cats in five months. Picture / APN

‘I love animals’ — rescue worker makes her house a refuge for abandoned felines

Community Spirit category: Mary Lou Nation has given up her home to help kittens.

The Gonville woman is a foster mum for Second Chance Kittys, a new group which re-homes unwanted cats and kittens in Wanganui.

People contact Second Chance Kittys and Ms Nation takes in the kittens, gets them healthy and feeds them until she can find them a home.

She also pays a portion of the de-sexing costs before handing them over to their new home.

In five months she has re-homed 65 kittens and seven cats. This week, she had 24 in her house,

She has spent $3000 of her own money on food and vet bills.

She has a fulltime job, and is aided by occasional donations made to Second Chance Kittys.

"I love animals - that's it. I'm doing it for the animals," she said. "I've more or less given up my home for them." She encouraged people to de-sex cats and said too many were being abandoned.

"It's not very nice, and people need to be educated," she said.

Her Pride of New Zealand nomination said: "She works tirelessly at this for the love of the cats and would be very embarrassed if she knew I was putting this in, as she doesn't do it for the recognition; she does it because she cares and has one of the biggest hearts I know."

Second Chance Kittys hopes to become a registered charity this year.

facebook.com/secondchancekittyswanganui

For more information on the award, visit prideofnzawards.co.nz