By Jack BeresfordShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA Florida woman witnessed the moment an Amazon driver delivering a package noticed the bowls of cat food left out for strays and did something unexpected.
Vicky, who lives in Panama City, was watching from inside her home, but what followed was captured on her Ring doorbell camera. She’s very glad it was. “I happened to pass by my front door as an Amazon box was being delivered,” she told Ring. “The blinds were down, so the young man could not see me.”
America has a feral cat problem. According to the welfare charity Humane World for Animals, there are somewhere in the region of 30 to 40 million stray or feral community cats living throughout the U.S.
The presence of these cats is seen as a cause for concern in many quarters. The Department of Agriculture, for example, views feral cats as the source of multiple issues both ecological and sociological. Stray cats have been accused of damaging property, spreading disease and impacting native wildlife through predation, among other issues.
Yet to people like Vicky and her neighbors, they are first and foremost regarded as animals in need of help to survive. According to an analysis by the American Journal of Veterinary Medicine, just 25 percent of feral kittens live beyond six months.
It may go against the established guidance but to local residents like Vicky and her neighbors in Panama City, if leaving a little cat food out every night improves those odds of survival, they are happy to help. It would appear they are not alone in that sentiment either, as the footage picked up on Vicky’s doorbell camera shows.
The video, which Ring shared with Newsweek, captures the moment the Amazon driver notices the bowls of cat food. He quickly puts two and two together, then does something that caught Vicky by surprise. “He reached into his pocket and retrieved cat treats, and added them to the bowls I have out for homeless cats,” she said.
...Unbeknownst to the driver at the time, Vicky was watching from just inside her house, having noticed him stop after making his delivery.
In that moment, she felt compelled to open the door and speak to the driver. “This act of kindness warmed my heart!” she said. “I was so charmed by his offering, I had to unlock the door and shout thanks to him as he ran to his truck.”
While the feral cat situation remains a cause for concern across the U.S., it’s impossible not to feel warmed by a simple gesture that demonstrates a level of care that is often lacking in the world today.
Vicky is just happy the video means others get a chance to experience seeing it for themselves.
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