At the age of 85 years, Rita Bingham would have expected to be living the retired life in a state of relaxed peace, but instead she finds herself leading the charge for animal rescue organizations across southwest Louisiana.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one doing this. But I just keep going,” Bingham said.

Bingham founded the low-kill Humane Society of West Louisiana, which operates out of a small headquarters located along the Lake Charles highway in DeRidder. There, Bingham houses the dozens upon dozens of animals that she accepts from other rescue organizations and abandoned animals brought to her by community members. She has become one of the only locations for miles around that will accept cats, and she said she is seeing first-hand an epidemic of stray cats in Southwest Louisiana.

“It’s horrible, it really is. No one else is accepting them; the municipal shelters here aren’t taking them so where are they supposed to go,” Bingham stated.

She has operated the rescue for 23 years. She is the last remaining original board member of the nonprofit, and she continues to network throughout the area to provide the animals brought to her with their best chance at a healthy future. She provides them with medical attention through local veterinarians who partner with her and temporary homes with the number of animal fosters she has made connections with.

It was through those networks and connections that Bingham met Lori Dover, the founder of the St. Huckleberry Animal Fund in Lake Charles. Dover strives to provide a happy and healthy future for abandoned animals she rescues out of Lake Charles and the surrounding area, but a lack of rescues for cats brought her to Bingham’s door.

“There is no one out there doing what Rita is doing. No one. I transport all of my rescues to Rita because through her determination and incredible will, she has been able to create a network of hope for these animals when no one else has,” Dover stated.

Indeed, Bingham works through social media channels and her local network of volunteers, that includes her personal friends and family members, to find homes for her rescued animals. She also spends every Saturday driving to Alexandria to participate in adoption events.

Still, in all her years Bingham said she has never seen a cat overpopulation crisis like what she is seeing today.

“I have never seen it like this. Not at this level, ever,” Bingham stated.

Bingham currently has seven surrogate nursing mother cats each feeding their second litter of adopted kittens. Counting those nursing babes, Bingham now has 65 kittens under 12 weeks old in her care, not to mention the adult cats she has filling her 26 cat kennels.

She said those numbers are nothing when considering that she turns away more than 100 cats a day that are brought to her by community members. She said those are just the cats that she knows of, adding there are countless more that are roaming freely across DeRidder and Beauregard Parish because there is no animal control for cats in the area.

“I can only take what I can take, but the biggest difference between me and any other rescue is that I answer the phone. You can’t reach these other places no matter how many times you call. People forget that ’no’ is an answer, too. You just have to tell people that,” Bingham stated.

Bingham said that when she explains to people who bring her abandoned animals why she cannot take the animal, because she is beyond maximum capacity, she said their gratitude in being given an answer is almost always evident.

Those same individuals, Bingham said, will often assist her with fundraising efforts.

“We have garage sales here at the rescue building and the same people I have to turn away will bring me items to sell and raise money with. All because I took the time to explain to them what I’m dealing with. Then, they see the crisis that I’m seeing,” she stated.

Dover echoed Bingham’s feelings on the seriousness of the issue at hand.

“There is an animal welfare crisis unfolding before our eyes in Southwest Louisiana,” Dover stated.

Dover said the natural disasters that plagued the area since Hurricane Laura, and compounded by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, have only made the situation worse.

In answer to the crisis, Dover offered through her St. Huckleberry Animal Fund, a free Mobile Animal Sterilization Hospital (MASH) event in Lake Charles in August of last year. The event assisted 121 cats and Dover said she intends to make the event recurring, hoping to offer three MASH events each year.

For all her efforts, Dover said she would still be at a loss were it not for rescuers like Bingham.

“She is a true rarity on so many fronts. I am so lucky and grateful to have met her,” Dover stated.

Bingham, however, is hardly one to focus on her own efforts.

During the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, Bingham housed more than 30 abandoned dogs in her home while continuing to network and care for animals that were brought to her because no one else would respond to requests, but she shrugs away any praise.

“This is what I do. Because if I don’t, then who will. Tomorrow there will be more animals and more phone calls, but you know what, I’m still going to answer the phone.”.