The local Cat Depot is helping save the lives of 12 Pennsylvania felines (read below for how you can help them too!) who were rescued last week in a raid on a Pennsylvania so-called “sanctuary” known as the Animal Friends of Elk and Cameron Counties. Some friends — the conditions at the I-can’t-even-use-the-word-sanctuary-SLUM were so deplorable, inhumane, and overcrowded that 387 cats — including numerous kittens — were removed by a team of more than 50 first-responders, aided by the American Humane Association and PetSmart Charities.
The Sarasota 12 — as I’m calling them now — after their traumatic (but welcome) rescue had to endure 48 hours of non-stop travel to arrive at Sarasota’s Cat Depot — a no-kill, nonprofit rescue and adoption center. 
Tampa Bay ASPCA transported the cats as far as Tampa where they were picked up by Cat Depot and shuttled to their new temporary home. Rescue efforts were coordinated through Tampa Bay ASPCA and ASPCA’s Field Investigations and Response Team.
The cats were available for adoption beginning July 10th — I’m not sure if they’ve all been adopted out into loving Sarasota homes, but you may want to give them a call to find out and perhaps help a little cat find a safe place to live here in our community. Their number is 941.366.2404; address is 2542 17th Street, Sarasota; hours are 7M-F, 11am to 7pm and S-S, 11am to 5pm.
When asked why Cat Depot would accept cats from Pennsylvania, Cat Depot Exec Shelley Thayer responded. “Cruelty and hoarding in large numbers can happen anywhere. When it happens in our own backyard, we will reach out to the organizations that we are helping and hope that they will assist us. No city is excluded from of this kind of devastation.”
Cat Depot works with local rescue groups, animal services, and the general public to find homes for unwanted felines. Cat Depot’s goal in 2010 is to find good homes for 1,000 cats and kittens. I’d like to know how far along they are in achieving that goal — so if anyone knows or finds out, post a comment here!