Fire Razes Cat Shelter In West Orange, Scouts Help Clean Up Mess

WEST ORANGE, NJ — An animal welfare group in West Orange recently got a big show of support from a local Scout troop after a fire destroyed a community cat shelter and feeding station.

Volunteers with West Orange TNVR help to humanely trap feral cats, spay or neuter them, treat them for medical issues and vaccinate them – eventually returning them to their outdoor colony. Caregivers maintain the colony's health by feeding and monitoring the cats to ensure they remain healthy and the area in which they live remains safe and pest-free. They also seek to socialize young kittens by placing them into foster homes for eventual adoption.

In October, the nonprofit reported that vandals set fire to a wooden community cat shelter and feeding station that its members use.

A GoFundMe fundraising campaign was launched to pay for the cleanup, which raised more than $2,000. According to the campaign:

“On Oct. 27, someone set fire to a wooden shelter and feeding station for community cats. The shelter was built by a volunteer and places on a property with full permission of the owner. We are a 501c3 all-volunteer feral cat rescue group. The funds will allow us to clean up and replace the structure. Any excess funds would be used to help other cats in West Orange, NJ. Thank you for any donation.”

An update was given on Nov. 9:

“Thank you all for surpassing our goal. The homeowners have asked that we not rebuild the shelter at the same site (their garage was damaged by the fire so we understand). We have already placed two smaller shelters in the vicinity to give the local cats shelter. We will continue to place more shelters in the township. Unfortunately, there has been no progress in finding the vandals.”

The nonprofit played the waiting game until earlier this month, when it got a green light to start cleaning up.

“So we finally received permission, about 10 days ago, from the police that we could clean up where the fire of our great shelter shed was,” West Orange TNVR reported on Saturday.

“It was built to withstand just about everything but a fire was too much,” the group added, sharing before and after photos.

Luckily, Troop 2 West Orange came to the rescue with a day of hard-but-rewarding labor.

“It took a little more than two hours, but what a job they did,” the nonprofit wrote, reporting that two cars’ worth of bags were transported to the local DPW for disposal.

The Scout troop also made a social media post about the effort:

“Troop 2 Scouts provided cheerful service this weekend to the West Orange TNVR organization that promotes the welfare of feral cats here in town. We helped remove a cat shelter that was senselessly destroyed by arson. Please help support this needed organization's work in our community.”

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