Pet's Age
Eight (approx.)

Pet's city
Carmel by the Se and San Antonio, Texas

Pet's Story or Bio
My wife and I are residents of San Antonio Texas but we have enjoyed owning a home here in Carmel by the Sea for many years. At first we were back and forth with dogs but over time and for many reasons our pet family became all feline. All of our cats love Carmel and they are now experienced travelers, making the journey many times. They spend their summer days here sunning on a deck overlooking the Pacific and enjoying life in coastal California.

I have been involved in animal rescue in San Antonio Texas for many years, primarily as the organizer of the Brackenridge Park Community Cat Project that was founded to help deal with the wholesale abandonment of domestic pets in San Antonio’s largest urban park, Brackenridge Park.

It was on a bicycle ride through that park with a friend (himself a former mayor of San Antonio) that I first noticed a large black cat living at an abandoned auto dealer’s lot on the park’s edge. The mayor then alerted me to the large number of abandoned animals living within the park’s boundaries. Over the next few weeks I continued my bike rides to the park, now armed with canned cat food for the black cat. We became friends and eventually I took him to the vet to check him out. The diagnosis wasn’t good, living off the land had not been kind to him. He could not go back to the park, was not adoptable in his condition, so he became ours.

Homeless folks at the park had tried to care for him, but they thought he was a she, naming him Sarah –likely because of his sweet disposition. We changed his name to Sam and he has been with us for eight years now. It was my chance encounter with Sam that has led to hundreds of cats being saved from a very difficult life. Sam is a hero, and a wonderful, loving friend. He spends his California time enjoying the cool air and warm sunshine – and no doubt celebrating being out of that park!