SAFeR-Stray and Feral Rescue

Safer is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the care and welfare of stray and feral (wild) cats. Our goal is to practice TNR and promote spaying and neutering of cats, while also offering suitable cats for adoption.

Safer was started by Sharold Prather and Bernard Herron because we saw a need. Like most cat lovers, we started feeding a group of stray and feral cats that lived in the neighborhood. The colony was producing offspring at alarming rates and we started doing research to find out what to do.

What we discovered was that there were very few organizations out there, with the exception of KittiCo and Feral Friends, that helped with colony care by providing TNR. The local SPCA provided discount spay and neuter, but for one unemployed person and one full-time student a discount wasn't of much help. We began rescuing the kittens and finding them homes and eventually were able to work with KittiCo to trap and neuter some of the adults.

However, it has been our experience that while many caregivers will take on the responsibility of feeding and providing basic care for a colony, they need or want help with the TNR process and/or veterinarian care. We know from experience that caring for a colony can be very expensive and time consuming and many people can become overwhelmed with all of the financial and emotional responsibilities. Once we both began working full-time, it became difficult to make drop-off schedules and repeated trips for drop-off and pick-up. All of this in addition to fostering several cats and kittens, providing veterinary trips and care and providing food, water and litter for all of our inside adopted children.

There just never seemed to be enough money, time or assistance. Sharold took several nonprofit management classes while completing her master's program at UTD and the two friends decided to start Safer as a way to gain support in their efforts.

Note: PO Boxes will not show correctly on the map below.