Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1055975
WINTER 2018 35 CAROLINE FOLEY ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF CATS AND THE COMMUNITY Caroline Foley has worked as a character designer/animator for Rick and Morty, a storyboard artist for BoJack Horseman and is co-creator/head story artist of Toasty Tales, amongst others. She has recently added another skill to her resume: cat rescuer. Foley has always been an animal lover and while she and her wife had already adopted a shelter cat, she always felt there was more that she could do. In June, when the entire department she worked in at Cartoon Network was dissolved, Foley suddenly found she no longer had the excuse that she didn't have the time. "I could be part of the change or I could just sit at home and watch TV," she says. She immediately joined the volunteer foster program at the Burbank Animal Shelter. After going through the volunteer orientation and learning how to care for kittens and cats, Foley opted to foster two "bottle babies," week-old kittens that needed round-the-clock help with care and feeding. Foley is now at the point where she's helping to find permanent homes for them. "It feels really good to know that I've been able to help because these kittens were just found in a box on a hillside somewhere in Burbank," she says, adding it's unlikely they would have sur vived on their own. Foley explains that a perfect storm of events has led to an increased number of kittens and feral cats in Southern California. The warm weather enables cats to breed throughout the year, and as a result cats can become pregnant three or four times a year, with up to seven kittens in each litter. Kittens as young as four months can then become pregnant and so the problem escalates. Another factor is that an injunction has put the Los Angeles city trap, neuter, return (TNR) program on hold. The program promotes the trapping of feral cats, which are neutered/spayed and then returned with the objective of preventing them from reproducing and reducing the overall number. There's currently an injunction that prevents the City of Los Angeles from financially supporting the Trap, Neuter and Return program until the program has passed a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) review. While the situation is being reviewed, cats that would have been fixed are now breeding all year long, leading to a huge feral cat population. For Foley, fostering was the quickest way to jump in and help, but she also wanted to address the larger issue. So on alternate Friday nights, she's out in the Highland Park area with Luxe Paws, helping to catch feral cats as part of their privately funded TNR program. Special traps are used to catch cats, which are then taken to FixNation where they are spayed and neutered. The cats are then returned to their original locations. Foley's compassion for animals extends beyond cats. She's currently working on an independent project using her artistic skills to create awareness of endangered plants and animals along the US/Mexico border. She's compiling a book of illustrations of the endangered species and hopes to bring awareness to their plight and highlight how a border wall would negatively impact their survival. Visit the Burbank Animal Shelter (thevbas.org) or Luxe Paws (savekittensla.org) for more information. Photo by Tim Sullens