Cover Girl’s final journey
People gather to say goodbye to the cat who launched a rescue
Editor's note: Photos of the ceremony can be found in Cover Girl's Memorial PhotosPlease also read
'Where apathy exists, tell her story' in the Best Friends News section.
“And if you again hear suffering, the anguished cries
Remember me and all who paid the price
Carry my legacy, this face to see
Stand tall and strong once more – Remember Me.”They came from as far away as Keene, N.H., to pay their respects to the little white and black cat they came to know as Cover Girl.
They are the volunteers who took time out of their own busy lives last year to travel to the Nevada desert to help Best Friends in what would become one of the largest cat rescues in history. They gave not only their time, but their hearts, to the Great Kitty Rescue of 2007. They were united in a common mission, and what they shared now bonds them forever.
They followed Cover Girl’s story from the moment they first saw her crawling away from the lens of Best Friends photographer Troy Snow’s camera. Some met Cover Girl when she was first taken to the makeshift hospital at the rescue site.
“I kissed her goodbye because she was so sick,” said Cathy Ramsey, a volunteer from northern California who attended last Saturday’s memorial service for Cover Girl. “But she was so resilient.”
Linda Bell of Pahrump met Cover Girl shortly after she was released from the hospital and taken to one of the other cat buildings on the property.
“I thought, ‘If she’s well enough to be out of the hospital, what did she look like before?’” said Bell, who along with her husband, Jerry, dedicated countless hours to the Great Kitty Rescue.
But as awful as she looked, as much as she’d been through, Cover Girl did survive. Sheila Smith, founder of a wonderful cat sanctuary called Shadow Cats in Round Rock, Texas, and her veterinarian husband, Roy, took Cover Girl into their home where she thrived. Volunteers and others followed her story via kitty cam and watched Cover Girl go from skinny and sick to plump and happy.
“The light came back into her eyes,” said Beth Kohler, a Great Kitty Rescue volunteer from California.
What made these people leave their comfortable lives to travel to the Nevada desert in the heat of summer to scrub out cat boxes and out buildings and serve dinner each night to almost 800 felines? What made them travel hundreds of miles to Best Friends’ Angels Rest on Saturday to pay their respects to one of those cats?
“She was worth it,” said Sherry Woodard, the Best Friends animal behavior and training manager who led the rescue effort in Pahrump.
“Every single life is worth it.”When Cover Girl peacefully crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in Sheila’s arms Aug. 18, she died knowing what it was like to be loved and cared for, not only by just Sheila and Roy, but by all the volunteers who were the heart of this rescue. Saturday’s memorial service brought some of them together once more.
“I thought it was beautiful,” said Mary Layton, a Great Kitty Rescue volunteer who’d traveled all the way from New Hampshire to attend Cover Girl’s memorial service.
There wasn’t a dry eye as Sheila read her moving tribute to Cover Girl. Here are Sheila’s heartfelt words about the cat everyone came to know and love, and about her legacy.
"How incredible this power of love!"All across the U.S. and here in this glorious place of love and light, we have come together to remember Cover Girl – not as a victim, but as a victorious survivor! Through the pain and heartbreak of a situation so heinous has come the healing power of all of the cats of the Great Kitty Rescue.
"Cover Girl’s image taken on that fateful day marked the beginning of her responsibility to the Great Kitty Rescue as the representative cat, as the face of the largest feline rescue that I know of.
"In the beginning, riddled with disease and suffering from exposure and starvation, her survival was certainly in question. Without the rescue angels from Best Friends and all over the U.S., she would surely have been a victim, just another unmarked grave in the desert.
"But the fierce will and strong spirit of this Warrior Princess drove her on. She was indomitable. As Barbara noted, she was fire and ice!
"Cover Girl continued to recover. She found a loving home where she was adored by many. She had cat friends. Frogger was her best buddy -- only he had the privilege of endless grooming! She always had a full tummy and a soft spot to lay her head. She enjoyed this last year healthy, happy and loved – certainly a life well lived.
"Cover Girl has crossed the bridge now, but her mission continues.
"She is the embodiment of many of our hopes in the fight against animal abuse and hoarding. Her face and her life can never be remembered without thinking of the suffering she and 800 cats endured.
"However, remember them all we must because in doing so, we honor and validate their lives. By remembering them, we are able to work to prevent this same abuse from happening to others. And that, I believe from the bottom of my heart, was Cover Girl’s mission during her life and will continue even though she has passed from this earth.
"Where apathy exists, tell her story. Where abuse and hoarding occur or where ignorance abounds, tell her story. There can be no denial of 800 cats callously tossed into the land of none.
"We all bear witness to this tragedy and every day we must strive to prevent it from ever happening again. Each of us as we return to our daily lives has the power to carry on Cover Girl’s legacy in all we say and do. If one animal is saved, if one person’s voice joins our own, then truly their lives were not in vain.
"Cover Girl is gone now from our sight. She now plays in the greenest of pastures, a cooling breeze ruffling her fur and all of her friends close by. She is wrapped in eternal love and peace. She has just gone on ahead. She lived her life well."
Story by Sandy MillerThere are other cats from the Great Kitty Rescue who are still looking for loving, forever homes. Go to the Best Friends Adorable Adoptables page and type “Pahrump” as the keyword. Those interested can also contact Katie Dennison at katied@bestfriends.org or 435-644-2001, ext. 4413.