Hard Hat Cats places feral cats in breweries, bodegas and other businesses looking for organic pest prevention.
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Sheila Massey is hunting for jobs. Not for herself, but for New York City’s unknown population of feral cats.
“They don’t want to be on anybody’s sofa,” said Massey. “But they make great working cats.”
Massey prowls the streets of Brooklyn, introducing herself to brewery managers, bodega owners and anyone else who might be open to trying an ancient form of rodent control.
“If you do it properly, the cats adapt very, very well,” she said. Once a cat makes a new place its permanent home, “the rats get the memo,” said Massey. “The rats say, ‘Oh, now we have a predator on site, a new sheriff in town, we’re out of here,’ and they leave.”
Massey’s nonprofit organization, Hard Hat Cats, works with the Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) to find homes for cats that won’t make good pets. Some of them have been rescued from hoarding situations, taken from feral cat colonies or have known behavioral issues.
Over the past three years, she said she’s placed around 30 cats in businesses, community gardens and apartment buildings. She’s been particularly successful with breweries and distilleries.
“Cats have been alongside alcohol making going back to medieval times,” said Colin Spoelman, co-founder of Kings County Distillery in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Hard Hat Cats placed two cats — named Harold and Maude — with Kings County Distillery in August of 2021. “When you’re hiring cats, as opposed to just having cats, I mean, you do want them to be a little street smart,” said Spoelman.
“It’s not one of these things where you just parachute cats into an area and hope for the best,” said Massey. “That’s why I have operating instructions to help people acclimate the cat.”
Aline Nocera, the Kings County Distillery’s tours and events manager, took on the task of caring for Harold and Maude, cleaning their litter boxes and providing food and fresh water.
“[The cats] were at first extremely skittish and scared and then slowly just started to open up,” she said. Now, Harold in particular has taken to accompanying guests on tours and posing for photos. “They definitely bring joy to the workplace,” she said.
“It’s just unbelievable how the cats have their own personalities and become more of a mascot than a mouser,” said Massey. “This is like a side benefit I really hadn’t anticipated.”
Massey herself did not always love cats. “I was a dog person my whole life,” she said. That is, until someone convinced her to adopt a kitten off the street. “And I fell in love,” she said. “I always say, this little cat, Sadie, changed my life, because I’m a cat lady now.”
