Moundsville native Jacque Bland has a new feline companion after playing a role in the rescue of a scared tabby kitten taking refuge under vehicles parked at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston.
Bland serves as communications director for the state Senate, and is known as a cat lover. On a recent Tuesday, Capitol security became aware of a constant mewing sound in the parking lot, and they located the animal under a parked car.
But the cat ran from them, and next took up residence under the hood of Bland's vehicle.
Bland was called to the scene and opened her hood. By this time, other curious bystanders had gathered in the parking lot.
"We could see the kitten through the engine but couldn't reach it," Bland said. "After about 30 minutes, it darted out of mine and ran under another Senate staffer's car. So, I let her know it was her turn to be on cat watch, and I came back into the office."
Not long after, security brought the rescued kitten to the Senate Clerk's Office, and Bland went down to "meet the furball who was making all that noise."
Security asked who was going to give the cat a home.
"Because I'm an infamous huge-hearted animal person, when the question was asked it was almost an instant, 'Well, Jacque,'" she said.
The end result: Bland now has an additional cat at her home in Parkersburg.
"This is definitely a kitten, just a baby," she said. "Guessing about 8 weeks old at best. I'm not sure if it's a male or female."
She made the cat a bed and contacted her husband, Rob Cornelius, who met her in Ripley with a cat carrier to take the cat back to Parkersburg.
"We'll take the kitten to get all of its shots and make sure it's in great health, and get it spayed or neutered when it's time," she said. "We're a cat family, so this new one will fit in well as our foster for a while, or as our newest permanent resident. My husband said the cat did great overnight - ate food, slept and loves attention. We're keeping the cat apart from our others until we get a clean bill of health, just out of precaution."
The cat's name is still being determined. For now, Bland has been calling the feline "Lucky."