CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Two Chesterfield women have been feeding the 23 cats abandoned in their neighborhood after they said the county animal shelter told them they couldn’t help.
Heidi Parker and Linda Biercz are on a mission to rescue the cats after their owners moved in July.
“We've been taking turns feeding them, going over and checking on them, taking them fresh water,” Parker said.
Parker and Biercz met when Biercz was out walking her dog in their Carter’s Mill neighborhood and spotted Parker feeding some cats.
Both soon met James Jacobs, who lives right next to the cats.
“The male cats spray the cars to mark territory, all the tires, every tire,” Jacobs said.
He said some renters who lived next door started out with three cats, but things quickly got out of hand.
“They just kept multiplying,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs and Parker said they contacted Chesterfield County’s Animal Control after the renters left, but both said they got the following answer. “They told me their pound is full, their animal shelter is full, and there's nothing they can do to help,” Jacobs said.
Now, the three neighbors are banding together to try to get help for the cats.
“They're not feral, they're pets, and they need homes,” Parker said.
Parker said she called every animal group she could find, but, so far, she’s only found help with six of the cats.
The Richmond SPCA agreed to take all of the cats that are four pounds or less.
“They're just going to keep reproducing. It’s a problem, and we need a solution,” Parker said.
CBS 6 contacted the county's animal shelter, but has not heard back from the shelter yet.
The Chairman of Chesterfield County’s Planning Commission, Edgar Wallin, said he’s trying to figure out if the county has been doing a good job of code enforcement.
If they have, he said he will explore if there is a way to improve existing ordinances to prevent something like this from happening again.
