“Two ladies from York have just been in,” said Collette Boler at the till of her small cafe in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley. Her voice began to choke up.
“They came in with a box of chocolates and a card, a box of cat food, a bag of cat biscuits and just said ‘carry on doing what you’re doing, you’re absolutely fabulous’. And a man’s just given me a tenner for cat food. It’s been incredible.”
The grandmother of seven has become an unlikely icon for cat lovers everywhere after finding herself banned from feeding a colony of feral felines she has looked after for 20 years.
She had been visiting them twice a day, including Christmas Day, even spending her own money on vet bills and having some neutered, which she admitted cost “a fortune”.
But two weeks ago Boler – affectionately known as the “crazy cat lady” – was subject to what some of her supporters see as a heavy-handed and overzealous ban, after a neighbouring business complained to the council over cat faeces on its premises.
Now if Boler continues to feed the cats, she will be issued with a community protection notice – a type of antisocial behaviour order – which could result in a fine of up to £2,500.
But she has been overwhelmed with support after others stepped in to help, including neighbours, strangers and a national cat charity.
“Even one of the lads who goes in the club across the road fed them the other day. He sent me a video.”
Boler first spotted the cats when she was running Milly’s cafe, which has since been taken over by her daughter, and she would deliver meals to workmen nearby. There were about 30 initially but that number has since dropped to about a dozen, due to the neutering she has organised.
Over the years she adopted one of them and helped find homes for others. “I just love them all.”
The Cats Action Trust has stepped in by writing to Barnsley council to urge it to repeal Boler’s ban.
“Feeders like Collette actually play a really important role,” said Alice Ostapjuk-Wise, a volunteer for the national charity which advocates for the “invisible issue” of cats that have never had contact with humans. “[Feeders] can alert us when a new cat arrives that might not be neutered.” The charity carries out neutering to control their numbers.
The Cats Action Trust has collected food for the Barnsley cats, which are frightened of humans and mostly stay out of sight, though the council has not made clear whether it too will face consequences for feeding them.
Ostapjuk-Wise said: “We just want to do what we can because some councils actually choose to exterminate feral cat colonies, and that’s the last thing we want.
“The path they seem to be taking so far appears to be very inhumane, basically starving the cats. That’s not going to solve the problem.”
It seems unlikely the cats will now go hungry because of the attention the story has attracted. After Boler posted about the ban on Facebook she has been overwhelmed with support, with one post receiving more than 40,000 likes.
But that brings problems of its own.
Her daughter, Rebecca Foster, said: “When my mum was doing it, it was controlled feeding. We knew when they were fed, knew how much they were being fed, we know what kittens were coming and if any didn’t come you go back to make sure they’re alright, because they do get injured and we have had to take them to the vets.
“Whereas now there’s that many people going, that many people feeding them, there’s no control.
“It’s had the opposite effect, no one even knew about these cats two weeks ago and now they’re the most famous cats in South Yorkshire.”
Boler added: “I think, in the country.”
Barnsley council did not respond to a request for comment but previously told local media it recognised Boler’s “good intentions” but the community protection warning was “an early step to prevent the situation from getting worse”.
“We always aim to protect public health and safety, and we encourage anyone concerned about stray animals to work with recognised animal welfare organisations, so support can be provided safely.”
Boler said she had “never expected” so much attention. “I just wish they’d let me feed my cats,” she said. “That’s all I want. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
