Until recently, I didn’t know that Vancouver had a no-kill cat sanctuary. I always told Sean that if I was uber rich and didn’t have to “work” for a living, I would love to open a no-kill animal sanctuary. Preferably on acres and acres of farmland.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out about the Rap Society, or Richmond Animal Protection Society, located on No. 6 Road. With over 400 resident cats, RAPS is North America’s largest cat sanctuary. While most of the cats were surrendered by their humans, a small percentage have health or behaviour problems or are feral.
And every Sunday, between 1pm-4pm, the sanctuary is open to the public.
I’ve been to the Pouzenboots cat sanctuary in Amsterdam, but they only had a couple dozen cats as residents. At RAPS, every you look there are fuzzy faces. The indoor cats live in makeshift donated trailer homes, which are arranged in a square shape. And within the trailers, free-roaming cats make their homes in cages, boxes, crates, blanketed off nooks, donated couches and papasans chairs.
As you can imagine, with that many cats, it doesn’t always smell pleasant. Volunteers clean the litter boxes every morning, but by afternoon, well, with 400+ resident cats, you can just imagine… some cats with behaviour problems spray walls or surfaces, which may not be cleaned right away – and I suspect that is what the pervasive smell is inside the trailer homes. When I was there.
If you have a sensitive sniffer, one could always go to the back and visit the outdoor cats. They’re everywhere. Lots of really lovely ones. Some are curious. Some are friendly. Others are cautious. You have all personality types here.
There were also so many “Jonesys” and “Charlies”. I did promise Sean that I would not come home with another cat. At least not at this time. So hard though, because there were some real beauties. Personality-wise, I took a shine to Peppercorn. So elegant and composed.
Another kitty reminded me of the stray cat that used to come around my old apartment and follow me down the street. She was the very reason I started carrying cat treats in my purse. Had she been less skittish, it would’ve been very hard not to contemplate about adopting this one. I think Charlie would be open to having another cat around; Jonesy, not so much.
It makes me happy to know that there is a no-kill sanctuary in Vancouver and that there are dedicated volunteers, who are passionate about the welfare of all these cats. I currently donate to the SPCA, but after visiting RAPS, I would be happy to consider donating to this organization too.
Fun fact: did you know that all 400+ cats have names? And that the owner knows every single one of them?!
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