The “Helping Animal Resources Team” Foundation (HART) was created to help provide support and/or resources in an effort to reduce the pet overpopulation and improve the lives of animals in Kingston, Ontario.

Dale & Kimberly Holliday

We are a mother – daughter duo that has been involved with numerous rescues and shelters over the years. We love all animals but have a special affinity for cats, especially ferals.  We first became aware of feral cats about 12 years ago when one showed up at a friend’s place. They started feeding it, and before they knew it one had turned into 20 or 30. Babies were having babies. Dale and her friend were able to trap most of them and bring them into the Kingston Humane Society (KHS), who at the time had a Spay Neuter Assistance program. We managed to find amazing homes for a couple of kittens, with the rest going into the KHS’s adoption program and the cats being returned to their colony after being spayed. This colony is proof positive that TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) works. There has not been one more kitten born in that location since, and we are happy to report that the remaining momma cat became a “house cat” last year and is now enjoying the comforts of an indoor life.

Unfortunately, a lot of colonies do not stay stabilized as “owned” cats that have not been sterilized are dumped or are free to roam outside.  Feral cats are often the result of strays that have not been spayed or neutered that have litters of kittens that then go on to become reproducing feral cats in their own right.   The local rescues continue to work like crazy trying to help as many as they can but unfortunately the cats keep coming.  Although the majority of our volunteering & fundraising efforts have been mainly focused on assisting one rescue, in the past couple of years we continued to help others here and there as we could, as we enjoy supporting those that help animals.   Our original plan was to continue to do what we are doing with our fundraising efforts but to try help out more rescues/ shelters, and we still plan on doing that,  but what we would also like to focus on is assisting with spays & neuters of owned animals, particularly cats.  We hope that by focusing on prevention that perhaps this will result in less pets being dumped, and therefore ease some of the strain on the rescues, and prevent the pain and suffering for the animals. We are still trying to figure out how we can accomplish this part of our plan but will continue to work away at it, helping other rescues in the meantime, and hope that we will have some news to share soon.