BOVIS Homes has presented a cheque for £200 to Cats Protection, after a family of stray cats was found at one of their sites in Bude.

Kathy Austen, who volunteers for Cats Protection Launceston and District, is delighted to have received the generous donation for the charity, after a female cat had given birth to four kittens under a container at Bovis’ Shorelands development in Bude.

It was discovered that, on finding the family under the container at the Bude development, builders at the site were feeding bits of their lunch to the cats to keep them going.

Kathy went to the site with traps, and caught the mother and three of the kittens in one night.

However, one of the kittens hadn’t gone into the trap.

One of the builders, Mason, kept a trap going, but they had no luck in catching the kitten.

Kathy said: “We were so worried, as a building site is no place for a young kitten!”

Eventually, Mason tried encouraging the kitten into the trap with strong-smelling pork, which seemed to do the trick. The kitten was reunited with its mother and siblings at the local rescue centre, and have since been neutered and re-homed at a farm on Dartmoor.

In exchange for a meal a day, the cats have the job of keeping the rats and mice at bay!

The developer kindly donated £200 to Cats Protection, with a cheque presentation taking place at the Shorelands development recently.

Stacey Bamfield, a representative from Bovis Homes, presented Kathy with a cheque for Cats Protection Launcestion and District branch, which will help cover neutering costs for the charity.

Kathy said: “The presentation went really well. It was lovely to meet Stacey and the team. I also dropped a box of biscuits into Mason, one of the builders who helped trap the last kitten.

“Many thanks to all the team at Bovis Homes for such a generous donation to Cats Protection Launceston and District. This will be a great help to be put towards our neutering costs.”