Our Story:
My name is Beth and I have been an active volunteer with community cats in Hamilton since 2015. It all started when I was living near the mountain brow and a little orange cat caught my eye. After investigating, I learned he was a stray. Knowing this kept me awake at night! Within a week, my husband Steve and I had him off the street and to the vet. Felipe the cat continues to live his life happily with my mom, Jane.
Over time, I learned that Felipe’s story was not uncommon and there are in fact thousands of cats just like him living on Hamilton streets. When I realized just how huge the community cat problem was (is) in Hamilton, I couldn’t look away. To sleep at night, I needed to be a part of the solution.
I learned about TNVR through Hamilton Street Cat volunteers who were already doing this important work in our city. They helped me learn to trap in my own neighbourhood and more importantly, provided the emotional support I needed during the process. That’s when I knew I had to pay it forward and help others do this work.
Fast forward to 2017, representatives of Hamilton Burlington SPCA, Hamilton Animal Services and other volunteers like myself, founded a group of stakeholders called Hamilton Community Cat Network (HCCN) of which I continue to be the Chair. HCCN goals include education about community cats, advocacy and enhanced services. Community Cat Pawsibilities of Hamilton was born out of the work I have been doing within this network and my readiness to take my volunteer efforts to the next level. I believe that when likeminded caring people work as a team, the “pawsibilities” are great for the community cats of Hamilton. Check out our volunteer page and join us!
- Beth Marie Koruna
Our first rescue, Felipe
Cats we have called our own:
Maddy 2009-2021
My first cat. Adopted at 2 yrs old from BHS. I call her my “CATalyst” as she taught me how wonderful cats are.
Summit 2010-2022
Adopted as a kitten for a friend for Maddy. She was a saucy girl and so very pretty. Loved her dad the most.
Ramon 2011-present
Our second rescue from Ancaster streets. Is the most social of all our cats. I call him our greeter.
Leo 2014-present
TNVR’d at our own house. Brought inside after 2 years outside when he got sick.
George 2019-present
I trapped George on Gibson St in 2019. He became a palliative foster through BHS and then we adopted him in 2022, as he was thriving and outliving his cancer prognosis. We are thrilled!
BW 2013-2019
Showed up at our house and lived outside for 4 years before deciding to move in. Sadly, he passed of saddle thrombus after 6 months inside.
Hazel 2021- present
This is Hazel with her babies after her trapping in 2021. She had many litters over the years and was only 5 years old. We decided she needed to stay and her babies were adopted.
Volunteers
Volunteers are at the heart of cat rescue. There are many roles that volunteers can take to be part of the solution for our community cat issue. Here are some examples of volunteers who make a difference every day!
Margaret has spent much of her life helping community cats. She has been active in trapping, transporting, fostering, fundraising, and lobbying, just to name a few! Margaret’s caring example and has taught us so very much.
Carolyn is a colony caregiver here in Hamilton. She feeds and cares for about 10 cats in the West end. We helped Carolyn do the trapping, with her cooperation and assistance. We are thankful for colony caregivers who do their part!
Above are some students from DVSS participating in a shelter build in the fall of 2022. Twenty-five shelters were built at the home of Deb Brown, who offered up her home for our build. She is pictured at the bottom right. Deb volunteers her time in many other ways and is a founding member of the Hamilton Community Cat Network. She is amazing and we are so thankful for her!
Jennifer joined the HCCN in 2019 when she was looking to get involved helping community cats after moving to Hamilton from Toronto where she was an active volunteer. As an experienced trapper, Jennifer has assisted in TNVR projects within targeted areas of the city. She has also helped community cats within her neighbourhood find homes and continues to support the HCCN as Secretary.
Meredith helps in many ways. One of those ways is spending time helping to socialize community cats at Beth’s house, where the fosters live until they are ready for adoption. She aids cats in the socialization process by spending time with them and teaching them that humans are safe. Volunteers like Meredith help greatly. She even adopted one of our fosters, Pirate! Below is her son Tristan with Pirate. He also joins his mom to help the cats!
There are so many ways to volunteer your time. Click below to find out more!
Meet Our Board
Step into the purr-fect world of our Board of Directors at CCPH, where feline welfare takes center stage. Composed of passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds, our board members bring a wealth of expertise and unwavering commitment to the cause. With each whisker and meow in mind, together with our volunteers, members of the community and participating members of our network, they embody our mission to nurture, protect, and celebrate the lives of our whiskered companions.
I have always lived with domestic dogs and cats but my first experience with community cats was when I was volunteering on the Bruce Trail and came upon some metal dishes in a parking lot with blood spots around them. I left a note for the feeder and before you know it I had inherited the care of 5 community cats from one colony and at least three roaming tomcats. Gone were the metal dishes which cause harm in the winter. I reached out to rescues for advice on how to get them fixed, sheltered etc and people were generous with their time and expertise. I ended up getting them all fixed and homing the 5 colony cats as they became socialized.
I realized through this experience how great the need was and how scattered the resources are so I ended up being a founding member of the Hamilton Community Cat Network. This is a forum to bring together all the key stakeholders - colony caregivers, rescue groups, Hamilton Animal Service, Public Health, the local SPCA and veterinarians. And now I am also involved in CCPH who are doing the important community based work to both help cats live successfully outside if they have the right resources or to be homes if they do not. I also currently sit on the Board of the SPCA so I have a good appreciation for the fact that we need to have coordination across services to improve the community cat overpopulation issue in Hamilton.
By day I am a healthcare consultant but my passion is animal welfare. I am delighted with all the great work CCPH has already done in the community, led by Beth Koruna. Many community cat lives saved and many more greatly improved already!
-Deb Brown
I first met Beth (and CCPH) when we bought our first home in downtown Hamilton in the summer of 2020. Our street is home to a large colony of community cats, that are cared for by a dedicated colony caregiver. I soon realized that part of the larger colony lived in my backyard, and I took over their care. Those community cats have since won my heart and are part of our extended family – we currently have 3 cats happily living in my backyard: Marmalade, Princess, and Winston.
There is a large need to help community cats in my area, and I’m so happy that through the hard work of CCPH and their volunteers, we have managed to TNR all the current resident community cats! CCPH has been an essential partner in coordinating, financing, and caring for the community cats in my neighbourhood, and I wanted to give back as well – I am so happy to be on the Board of Directors for this exceptional organization!
-Michelle den Hollander
I first met Beth when I wanted to get involved with volunteering to help Hamilton community cats. I had previously volunteered for different organizations in Toronto and managed a colony of 20 cats in an industrial area of Etobicoke. I had always known through the cat rescue community that Hamilton had a large population of community cats and I wanted to be part of a solution. The first step was joining HCCN.
My interest in volunteering started after I had adopted my first cat Luna and started to research topics related to cats which ultimately led me to learning about community cats. After becoming a registered colony caregiver, I was able to TNVR 19 out of 20 cats in my colony, and get 3 friendly kitties from the same colony adopted into their forever homes. Since then, I have continued to assist others in their TNVR efforts and supplying colony caregivers and dedicated feeders with food donations. I previously volunteered for over 7 years as an adoption screener for a large cat rescue organization in Toronto, and often participated in fundraising events in and around the Toronto area. When my husband and I moved to Stoney Creek, I wanted to use the experience I gained to help cats in the Hamilton area.
I am honoured to be part of this amazing and talented team led by Beth and look forward to continue our work in helping community cats and supporting programs dedicated to their welfare.
-Jennifer Tang