LAKELAND, Fla. — A Lakeland tow truck driver has a special mission in life. It’s to rescue feral cats. Ashley Barnett said she believes she has rehomed about 1,000 of them.

What You Need To Know

  • Lakeland's Ashley Barnett has a tow truck business

  • Barnett often rescues feral cats from the car lots, body shops and junk yards she frequents for her business

  • Barnett has many of the cats fixed and then rehomed

  • Barnett has a nonprofit called Bastet Little Cat Rescue

“We are headed to go pick up one of the kitty cats we rescued right before Christmas,” Barnett said as she was driving in her tow truck to the Marcum Road Animal Hospital on a recent morning. Barnett had gotten the adult female feral cat from a local car lot.

Barnett gets a lot of joy out of rescuing the cats.

“Anything you do for a cat or an animal, they just seem to really appreciate it,” she said. “It’s like they know when they have been rescued.”

“Come on, pretty girl. You ready to go back?” she said as a staff member at the animal hospital handed her the cat cage with the cat inside. The cat had been spayed.

Barnett has been a regular at the office for many years with the cats she has rescued.

“Her heart is gold when it comes to these kitties around here,” said receptionist Stacey Evans.

Barnett took the cat back to the Whitestone Auto Sales lot and was greeted by owner Jeff Stone as she walked through the door.

“Hey Ashley. Got mama cat?” he said.

Stone is a believer in Barnett’s cat rescue endeavors because she often gets them spayed or neutered.

“If they don’t get them fixed, they are going to get pregnant. They are going to have more cats,” he said. “And just like a male cat. That cat needs to be neutered.”

After the female cat recovers from its surgery, Stone will let it live at the car lot. Barnett said some car lots and junk yards like to have feral cats around because they keep the rodent population under control. But they don’t want the cat population to get out of control.

There were some juvenile feral cats in the back of the car lot that Barnett was still hoping to catch. She started to feed them so they might be easier to catch another day. “We’ve got a trap set up and are trying to coax them over with some cheese,” she said.

Barnett has set up a nonprofit to help fund her cat rescue efforts called Bastet Little Cat Rescue.