VICTORIA, TEXAS - Cats’ eyes gleamed warily in the darkness, but with just one gentle word from Rob Cabriales, they stepped forward to greet him.
Like most nights of the week, late Tuesday evening he parked his car - loaded with bags and cans of cat food - and went to work.
For years, Cabriales has made nocturnal visits to lonely junkyards, dumpsters and even alleys, to feed the forgotten felines of the world.
After a day’s work, his last stop is to help these hungry souls.
His first stop of the night is behind a gas station.
“They know my voice very well,” Cabriales said, silhouetted in the harsh glare of the building’s exterior lighting.
But unlike most nights, he wasn’t alone.
The tall, soft-spoken man assisted the like-minded group Victoria TNR ~ Trap Neuter and Return for Feral and Free Roaming Cats in their namesake.
“When we moved here, we were shocked by the number of cats and dogs we saw running around,” said Jean Dunham, co-founder of the group.
With the help of a humane wire trap, they checked each cat to see if it had been spayed or neutered.
“Come on, baby. Come on, little one,” Dunham said quietly, coaxing a frightened kitten into a cage for transport to a vet’s office.
Later on in the week, the cats are fixed free of charge before being released, Dunham said.
“A lot of these kittens are born to die,” she said. “They don’t deserve that.”
Dunham calculates in more than six years, her group has prevented the births of literally millions of cats.
Trap-Neuter-Return and self-appointed feline advocates such as Cabriales function almost completely on donations, Dunham said.
The rest comes from out of their own pockets, said Cabriales, who spends almost $150 each month on cans food.
Despite the cost of both the food and the gas, Cabriales said feeding the cats is a blessing.
“When you do something like this, it keeps you healthy; it keeps you up,” he said. “You have living, breathing creatures depending on you.”
Like Cabriales, Dunham said she, too, was compelled by her own humanity to help.
“They picked me,” she said.
All the stray cats know Rob Cabriales here at a junkyard in Victoria and allow him to pick them up as he gives them food and water on Tuesday, January 5, 2016.
How to help
• To donate or volunteer to Victoria Trap-Neuter-Return email [email protected]
• The group’s annual fundraising dinner, Spayghetti No Balls, occurs every fall.
• For more information, visit facebook.com/victoriatxtnr or victoriatnr.org
• Low cost spay and neuter operations are available at Adopt a Pet in Victoria. For more information, call 361-575-7387.