Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Soriano.
Hi Angela, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started my rescue journey a long time ago, before I entered grade school! I think the first animal I rescued was a lizard who lost his leg! I had made a makeshift cast for him and my parents would have said back then that I would grow up to be a veterinarian! While that did not happen as the field is quite saturated, I chose a different path of pet rescue. I rescued my first kitten when I was in the second grade when I found a little kitten on the side on the road on my way to school. While my teacher ended up keeping her, she was the one who told me that I’d do great in pet rescue and thus started my dream to save more pets in need. Finally, in June of 2024, my dream came true and Celestial Pet Rescue inc. was founded!
A lot of rescues around Jacksonville take from shelters and shelters mostly take owner surrenders, however, there are countless of friendly cats and dogs still living and dying alone every day on the streets. Many of these animals were abandoned by people. That is where our rescue comes in. We do not pull from shelters, nor do we take owner surrenders. We only take in friendly pets who were living on the streets and spay and neuter the unadoptable ones for TNVR (trap, neuter, vaccinate, return). You can tell a stray cat has been spayed or neutered by looking at its ear, the ear will be clipped a bit to show that it has been trapped already.
While I, and many others, would love to save all of them and get them all homes, that is just not possible. I realize there are not enough homes for all the friendly homeless pets out there which is why my goal is to find a property large enough that we can open a sanctuary for both cats and dogs! No animal should be forced to go without food, clean water, or shelter and no animal should have to suffer, especially alone on the streets.
When I saw how many cats and dogs were living on the streets, I felt helpless. I wanted to help them any way I could. I have seen over a thousand homeless pets in the city of Jacksonville alone, and I am certain there are countless more.
The hard truth is: if you wait for someone else to step up, you will only end up with 500 more cats and the 5 you started with. We have a saying here at Celestial Pet Rescue inc.: spay a pet, save a pet.
So, if you see a stray cat who has not been trapped, please be a part of the solution. Use a raccoon sized humane trap and take them to your nearest humane society for spay and neuter. You may need an appointment, so it is best to call them ahead of time. Us pet rescues are overwhelmed with calls and most of us are over capacity with how many pets we have available. We cannot do everything or save every pet alone. We need the help of the community to ensure a safe and healthy living environment is available to all; and that cannot happen without TNVR.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not! As a small, not well-known pet rescue, we receive well over 50 calls and/or emails a day. Most pet rescues receive twice that if not more! Most calls we receive are for owner surrenders, which we do not accept. Even though we recommend places who do accept owner surrenders, I have received verbal abuse and even threats for turning people away.
On top of that, when we are working on TNVR (trap, neuter, vaccinate, return), we have to carry some form of protection as a lot of people are not fond of the cats we are trying to help, and have made threats to our safety while we are working.
Duval county residents can get 6 cats spayed or neutered for free every month, yet here in St. John’s county, we do not have that help. We have to pay $55 or more PER cat! Not everyone can afford to spay and neuter every stray cat here in St. John’s county! Duval residents have that option for free and most either don’t know it or don’t want to get involved.
A lot of our struggles lie with the cat overpopulation as well. Cats are everywhere and most of them have not been spayed! This can result in thousands of kittens a year. That is correct! THOUSANDS! Most of these kittens, however, will end up sickly and many pass away before they reach 6 months old. This is due to lack of vaccinations on their parents and also due to inbreeding.
Many kittens we receive are either orphans or taken from the mother while she was away hunting. Mother cats will leave their kittens for several hours to look for food. This does not always mean they were abandoned, but if mother does not return for more than 4 hours, however, then they were more than likely abandoned and human intervention is needed.
We are also run by donations, so we rely on the community to save these animals. Donations of any kind help us, and they are tax deductible!
Pet supplies and vet care is also extremely costly. Most of our funds go to pet supplies such as dog, cat, kitten food, kitten formula as well as cat litter. All of these expenses hit us the hardest.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are a 501(c)(3) not for profit, foster based, donation run, pet rescue who specializes in cats and kittens but will not leave any homeless pet, regardless of breed, behind. Unlike most rescues who pull pets from shelters for adoption, we focus on stary pets who have been living on the streets. We pull friendly, adoptable stray pets off the streets, vet them, and put them up for adoption. We also spay and neuter stray cats through the TNVR program through First Coast No More Homeless Pets in an attempt to halt the outbreak of more homeless kittens.
How do you think about happiness?
Theres a lot in this job that makes me happy, from seeing friendly pets who we have saved find new, loving homes, to spaying a female cat and knowing that she won’t be forced to continually give birth to more and more kittens who may or may not survive. One cat who I had thought was pregnant turned out to have a fatal infection called pyometra, which made her look pregnant but was actually an infection in her uterus. She narrowly survived but had we not had her spayed, she would have passed. I was proud that I caught her when I did. While she was feral and not happy, she was at least saved by the wonderful vets who cared for her. Knowing that I contributed to saving her life and the lives of the many kittens who we come across brings me happiness that cannot be matched.
Pricing:
- Kitten adoption fee is$125
- Adult Cats adoption fee is $75
- Misc decor items range from $1 to $45
- Resin Pet Memorials range from $45 to $55
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.celestialpetrescue.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celestialpetrescue/#
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559637544240
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Celestialpetrescue
- Other: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=8Z39XMRRCJWGC
