Rosecroft Raceway Cats Find New Homes With a Little Help From Some Friends
The King Street Blue Grass band is hoping to raise money to pay for the cat-rescue adventure
Nancy Lisi doesn’t necessarily consider herself a cat lover, but for a group of orphaned felines she became a lifeline. Last fall she helped locate homes for the more than 100 cats living at the shuttered Rosecroft Raceway in a month’s time.
“This was an effort by what we dubbed the ‘cat cooperative,’" said Lisi, an Alexandria resident.
Their ‘cooperative’ began when Rosecroft Raceway in Maryland closed last summer. Because of the financial troubles of the racetrack’s now bankrupt owner, Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., the horsemen and horsewomen were told they had to leave the racetrack. The cats, it seemed, would also have to find a new place to call home.
In early September, Lisi said she received a frantic call that the CEI had issued a three-day ultimatum to remove the remaining cats. Lisi acted swiftly. She posted the news on Facebook to spread the word that more than 100 felines needed a caretaker. The response was immediate. Offers from strangers to adopt the cats began to pour in.
In the meantime, Lisi and friends also managed to extend the time they had to remove the cats. A representative from Cloverleaf Enterprises says there was never a time limit to get rid of the cats, but acknowledged Lisi’s group’s prominent role in finding the cats homes and Cloverleaf’s inability to care for them long term.
So Lisi, along with Cat Tails, Alley Cat Rescue and other horse folk, helped place the cats in homes throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia—and even Delaware—in a month’s time.
Even the mean old tomcat who once called the Rosecraft Raceway dumpster site his turf has adapted to domestic life, Lisi said. He was the second-to-last cat to find a family of the nearly 110 cats that remained at the track in September.
Lisi, who was the primary cat transporter, credits Cat Tails President Joy Purnell with “cracking the whip” to make sure cat-rescue tasks happened according to schedule. After all, their team had to trap the cats safely, take them to local vet appointments and deliver them to people’s homes all in a month’s time.
“I must have spent $1,000 on gas driving cats to Maryland, Delaware—returning traps--I felt like I had a full-time job,” Lisi said.
Lisi’s time and money was donated. Other horsemen — from Rosecroft and elsewhere — also made “generous contributions,” to their cause, she said. Cat Tails, however, accumulated an approximate $7,500 debt that Lisi wants to see paid off.
To that end, she and her band, King Street Bluegrass (KSB), have collected about $1,300 for Cat Tails as of last week. The group stages a regular “Cat Jam” at Telegraph Station on Thursdays. Tips go to Cat Tails.
They began busking on King Street in Old Town about three years ago. KSB also plays at the Georgetown Farmers Market. Other notable gigs include opening for nationally-known-bluegrass stars Bobby Osborne and Dry Branch Fire Squad and playing the exclusive Metropolitan Club for the Ambassador to Sweden, Matthew Barzun.
In addition to playing with the King Street Blue Grass Band, Lisi has lived in the Alexandria area for years, putting two children through West Potomac High School.
Lisi sings, plays guitar and upright bass with KSB, and “dabbles with a little claw hammer banjo on a few tunes.” She taught herself how to play guitar as a child living in Pennsylvania. It was also about this time that her father bought her first horse.
Lisi spent 35 years at Rosecraft Raceway, first as a groom, and later as a trainer and harness driver. She said the cats had become a fixture at the track, acting as pets to the horsemen and ridding the stables of mice.
“Each cat had its own story and a different situation,” said Lisi.
Charles Croft
5:40 pm on Monday, April 4, 2011
Gina from Cloverleaf was just as much responsible as Nancy lisi and the cat rescue. She was setting the traps and checking them everyday. She was keeping them and feeding them while Nancy was finding homes. Cloverleaf played a big part in the relocation and rescue. I was there and saw this with my own eyes. Also a ex teller i belive here name is sandy was feeding them before the rescue effort took place. So while i like reading your article it doesnt pay justice to all the people involed.
nancy
1:40 am on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
They can only put so much into an article. I can send you both the email of the interview I was asked to give to these people. I gave full credit to the salaried Cloverleaf Secretary Gina and the Cat Lady (who actually did the majority of the trapping), many were so tame that they were simply picked up and put into carriers. They were both taught how to set the traps by a professional who was hired by Cat Tails Inc. The lady who was the teller and had fed and cared well for any unattached cats for 20 years did not want her privacy violated, which Mr Charles Croft has neatly done. It was she who begged me to help as nothing was getting done, I have the texts from her to prove it. I am Nancy Lisi. Hope to see Mr Bell sometime soon at a hearing or meeting which he has yet to attend, so that he may insult the fine horsemen of Rosecroft to my face instead on online like a chicken.
nancy
1:55 am on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
correction, 4 kids through West Potomac High - but a nice article nevertheless -
Arthur Lisi
7:13 am on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
How sad that finding homes for cats has turned into a political debate about racetracks. Mr. Bells comment about what I said at a MRC hearing is incorrect, and he wasn't even at that meeting...and what does that have to do with finding homes for cats. I could go on and on about Andrew, Mr. Croft, CSOA etc.. but what does that have to do with finding homes for cats. If nancy and another resident of Rosecroft named sandy hadn't taken on this task, the cats would have been adandoned and probably killed. Why is it so hard to give credit where credit is due.
sara rasmussen
9:09 am on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
I want to thank the Patch for writing this article. What does one do with over 100 cats that are soon to become homeless. I am still AMAZED that Nancy and the "Cat Cooperative" as she calls them were able to gather up, provide vet care for, find homes for, and transport over 100 cats to new homes in a month's time. This is one of the most extraordinary volunteer effort's I've seen, where caring individuals, many with no ties what so ever to the cats or the racetrack, responded to the plea for help, stepped forward, and together, pieced together the skills, equipment, time and effort needed to get such a seemingly impossible task done. It took an incredible amount of time and effort and perseverance. It's nice to know this can happen in such a bustling city. Anyone who helped with this effort should be proud of themselves.
Linda S.
9:51 am on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Thanks Patch, for covering this! It's an inspiring illustration of how ordinary people and small, grassroots groups came together to do something totally good. We all could learn a lot from the cats, who manage to get along even in times of danger or scarcity and accept what comes with grace. Thanks to all of the people who have given a dollar or two, who participated in the hands-on work, thanks to the moral support people, and to the community at large which understood and took in the feline refugees.
nancy
12:28 pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Linda is with PG Feral Friends who helped as well. It was truly a "cooperative"! The project left Cat Tails Inc. quite in debt, and we horsemen aim to pay her back. I'm definitely grateful that Cloverleaf relented as this enabled the rescue.
In any case there will be two bands playing on April 7th!! Add to this a good fellow from Day's End Rescue Farm has pledged to MATCH any tips these bands make, fabulous! So April 7th is going to be a fun and joyous event, hope to see some friends there!
Bea Porter
1:27 pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Thank you so much for saving all those cats. I grew up next door to Rosecroft and when I heard it had gone under I was very disappointed. I had no idea all those cats were left behind. Bea
nancy
10:47 pm on Monday, April 18, 2011
The "battle of the bands" at Telegraph Station was a huge success, with Douglas Everton, star performer of the Hot Buttered Nuggets, challenged to a fund raising duel by King Street Bluegrass' headman Freddi Szilagi - All funds for the night were matched by the mysterious "muleskinner" (from Day's End Farm Horse Rescue) Both bands together raised $445, which upon being matched, totaled $890. The "Nugg's" beat out King Street Bluegrass and friends (it was neck and neck for awhile) --- We continue to do our weekly Thursday night jamboree for Cat Tails Inc, at our favorite neighborhood haunt, all are welcome-