A Community Effort: Caring for the Owen Beach Boat Cats

When in-shelter resources are being stretched thin, Tacoma Humane’s network of foster families and entire community offer relief. We saw just how important that support can be on August 6, when we received a unique call from our partners at Tacoma Animal Control.  

Dozens of cats were discovered off the shore of Owen Beach in an abandoned boat, left alone, scared and disoriented in an uncertain environment. Tacoma Animal Control moved quickly to bring the cats to safety and into our care. Coming off the tail-end of kitten season, the shelter population was already high and only growing as these cats started to come through our doors. Remarkably, within 24 hours, 13 foster families were there to welcome these scared boat cats into their homes. 

Over the next three days, the number of cats that were rescued from the boat soared to 61. Twenty-four were welcomed into foster homes, giving them a quiet place to decompress after their ordeal. 

While these cats were mostly in good health overall, some were dealing with dehydration, live fleas, and other minor medical concerns that our veterinary team has since addressed.  

As our team continued caring for these scared cats, there was an overwhelming amount of support coming from our community. Local supporters visited the shelter, eager to learn more and help, while that compassion reached far beyond Pierce County, with adoption inquiries coming from as far away as Texas. 

The boat cats are still adjusting after everything they’ve experienced. Victoria McPherson, Cat Services Lead, noted that these cats show signs of human under socialization. McPherson said, “these cats were in a confined space with a human, but likely haven’t received specialized attention”.  

One of the rescued cats, Jacquotte, in her foster home.

As they have begun to decompress, our team has noted that they appear comfortable being in spaces around humans, but they have generally not been comfortable with handling or direct interaction with people. Building trust with the cats from this case will take time, patience, and plenty of care from their future families. 

Large-scale cases like this can occur at any time through our animal control partners, and we must always be ready to allocate resources accordingly, while continuing to serve the animals already in our care and those who will continue to come through our doors. 

That’s where our community makes all the difference. Support can look like caring for a healthy found animal while we help locate their family, fostering, adopting, donating, or simply spreading the word. 

Here’s how you can help: 

• Foster – Opening your home temporarily to a pet in need helps us have space for the next one that needs help. 

• Donate – Monetary donations help support the medical and daily care for these cats while they are in our care. Donations made over and above the boat cats’ needs will be used for other shelter pets in need of care.  

• Donate Items – If you’d like to donate items to help support us while we care for the cats, you can find a wish list of needed items on either Chewy or Amazon. 

• Adoption – The boat cats are now available for adoption. They will take a lot of time and care to be comfortable with humans. Adoption of any shelter animal frees up space for us to take in and care for others.