‘Nobody stays behind,’ cat sanctuary shares new fire safety plan

By Noah Caplan

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    BLACK FOREST, Colorado (KOAA) — It’s a place for southern Colorado’s “under-served” felines.

“Any cat that just needs a soft place to land… they’re gonna find a home here,” said Wild Blue Cats Outreach Director Sabrina Utter.

Utter said the sanctuary, which is home to both cats being made ready for adoption and cats that are better off in an outdoor environment, has grown quite a bit in recent years.

Utter said the Black Forest Fire came within a mile of the sanctuary’s property.

“Everybody was gathering cats, the problem was in 2013, we didn’t have an evacuation plan,” said Utter.

Responding to the fire, Utter said Wild Blue’s volunteers came up with a detailed plan.

She said it’s a plan that assigns people to every main area of the sanctuary, with equipment ready to go that makes it easy for volunteers to catch the cats and get them to safety. One of those gadgets she called an “easy nabber.”

“It’s like a giant clam shell made of mesh. And so if you have to, you can do that,” she said, when talking about the cats.

One of the unique parts about Wild Blue is its 100 by 200 foot fenced in an area known as Maya’s Wildheart Village. It’s currently home to 29 cats who are not meant to be in a home and can live their lives safely and comfortably.

But since these cats are feral, it can be very hard for volunteers or even firefighters to corral them in the event of an emergency. Utter said the best way to keep them safe is by cutting the netting to the enclosure.

“The plan is to, like, snip the fence in multiple places so that they can escape,” she added.

But, the best way to keep these guys safe in the event of fire, Utter said, is to find the indoor cats a loving home.

“The biggest challenge with adoption is education,” she said. “Making 100% sure that person that (whoever) adopts them knows what the challenges are going to be.”

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