When Tawni Marcil found out the mill in British Columbia where she works is closing permanently, her first thought was about the colony of feral cats who have called the worksite home for almost as long as the mill has existed. Marcil is one of 350 workers on Vancouver Island losing their jobs after the company announced in early December 2025 that it’s shutting down the mill completely by April 2026, with production ceasing in early January and workers facing their final days at a facility that has been the heart of the community. For decades, looking after the feral cats became a routine part of the job for Marcil and several other mill workers who fed them daily and watched over them, making the thought of abandoning these animals absolutely devastating when closure became reality.
So for the last month, even as she faces her own uncertain future without employment, Marcil has been working with Foster Kritters Feral Cat Rescue and other local organizations to round up the mill cats, remove them from the site, and find them new homes before the facility shuts down forever. Kirsten Belday, founder of Foster Kritters Feral Cat Rescue, says the mission to trap all but one of the felines would have been impossible without Marcil’s help because when strangers come to try and trap them the cats scatter, but the workers they trust made all the difference. Only a handful of the cats are social enough to be put up for adoption, with the rest being sent to RAPS Cat Sanctuary in Richmond British Columbia where they’ll live out their lives in health and safety with all the care they need. One lucky kitty named Wasabi has already found his forever home with a retired instrument mechanic. Even though the community is struggling financially with 350 families losing an average of 100,000 dollars per year in income, Belday says people have been remarkably generous in supporting the cat rescue efforts, proving that compassion doesn’t disappear even when times are hard.
