It began with Dungeons & Dragons…

In early 2020, during a Dungeons & Dragons session in our long-running campaign, our Dungeon Master introduced us to a city. This city, unfortunately, had a population of stray and hungry cats. Our party decided to talk to one of the local cats and asked them for help with our quest. One was particularly friendly and cooperative and decided to help us in our quest. Our party named this cat Silth.

As a reward to Silth for helping us locate the dangerous dragon priest, we offered her sanctuary in our home. We also asked her to chat to the other local strays to help keep an eye out for any other suspicious characters and in return they could also come for food and shelter. Soon there were tens of cats to care for and our little D&D home became a fully functioning - albeit pretend - sanctuary.

At the same time our campaign was running, we were also helping with a local trap neuter return project in the real world. The night after the D&D session where we befriended Silth and established our little in-game sanctuary, one particular cat was trapped three times (despite already having been neutered). As it was a cold and rainy night, we decided to bring him in rather than risk him being trapped and stuck outside in the cold.

It turned out that this cat, once given a little food and time, was very friendly and had clearly been someone’s pet many years ago. We started a long and lengthy search to find his owners, but despite months of searching none were found. After talking to locals who had lived in the area for a while it turns out this gentle boy had been living in the alleys for over a decade! Eventually the call was made and Simba became the first rescue of Silth’s Sanctuary in real life.

Later in the year the pandemic struck. This meant many vet practices had to limit their intake and shelters could no longer function as normal. TNR schemes had to stop running, and the intake of cats slowed dramatically. Central Liverpool was known to have a large population of unneutered stray cats and without any interventions the number of kittens in the back alleys exploded. We began to notice tens of new cats we had never seen before, many of them pregnant or ill. Cats and older kittens started appearing too, potentially being lockdown pets that had been dumped.

The pandemic had created an unprecedented crisis for animals in Liverpool on a scale that established charities could not handle on their own. So our group decided to bring our sanctuary from fantasy into reality. Thanks to Silth, we have now started trapping, neutering, reuniting, and rehoming cats throughout Merseyside and beyond.

We have expanded, taken on new volunteers, rehomed cats across the country, and will continue to make a difference for our feline friends in the alleyways. We work with our local community to ensure street cats have the highest care they can before they enter our foster homes. We aim to help our communities actively engage with their feline neighbours, and improve the welfare for all abandoned and lost animals.