Heather Perez is working to raise $100,000 for one acre of land, fencing, and tiny houses for her rescue felines
Credit: Whiskerwood Village Colony Cats/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Heather Perez is raising $100,000 to create a permanent sanctuary for nearly 70 stray cats in Charleston, S.C.
- Perez has fed and cared for the cats for two years, including spaying, neutering, and building tiny homes for shelter
- Her work comes amid the ongoing stray cat crisis in Charleston County, with over 8,000 cats reported in 2025 but limited shelter capacity
One woman has embarked on a fundraising effort to create a sanctuary for stray cats.
For years, Heather Perez and other residents have fed a group of stray cats in a Charleston, S.C., parking lot, according to The Post and Courier. Over the past two years, Perez has turned the project into something more, feeding the cats twice a day, building them shelters, creating an Instagram page to update curious residents about the community cats, and getting the animals spayed and neutered. The colony has become known as “Whiskerwood Village.”
“Along the way they became Whiskerwood Village, and I fell in love with all of them,” Perez tells PEOPLE about the stray cat colony, which holds between 50 and 70 cats.
“As I got to know them, I realized how many needed to be spayed and neutered and how much care the colony really needed,” she adds. “Since then, I’ve worked on TNR [Trap-Neuter-Return], provided food, water, shelter and medical care when needed, and found homes for some of the friendly cats.”
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Credit: Whiskerwood Village Colony Cats/Instagram
But the makeshift area where “Whiskerwood Village” currently resides is temporary. Perez tells PEOPLE she hopes “to find a piece of land close by where I can safely relocate the colony and continue caring for them long-term.”
“I’d love for them to finally have a permanent place where I don’t have to worry about them losing their home again,” she explains.
Perez is working to raise $100,000 for one acre of land, fencing, and tiny houses to make Whiskerwood Village permanent. She hopes to relocate the felines by winter and plans to have her husband construct tiny homes for the new location so the cats have all-season shelters. Perez created a GoFundMe in late August, and by the time of publication, she had raised over $26,100.
Perez’s efforts come amid an ongoing pet overpopulation crisis around Charleston County. The Charleston Animal Society reported over 8,000 homeless cats in 2025 but has the shelter capacity for only 300 felines.
She is looking to move the cats to another part of North Charleston, but is also considering Hollywood, S.C., and Ravenel, S.C.
Joe Elmore, CEO of Charleston Animal Society, recommends that the new site have a committed caretaker, consistent food and water, ongoing veterinary care, and appropriate shelter, according to The Post and Courier. He also warned about the difficult acclimation period, saying, “If they are moved without a carefully managed acclimation process, they may attempt to return, become lost, or face a significantly reduced chance of survival.”
Elmore is still enthusiastic about Whiskerwood’s future plans, telling PEOPLE in an exclusive statement: “This is a perfect example of people and South Carolina communities working together to improve the lives of animals.”
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