Volunteer, Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society and the Black Cat Café
16, Havertown
By Lisa Dukart
Spurred on by his mother’s love of animals, Ryan Clemens has followed suit. “People get these cute little furry creatures, and then they just leave them outside and move away, which is awful,” he says.
Clemens helped his mom with trap-and-release, humanely capturing wild cats, neutering or spaying them, then letting them go. He also volunteers with the Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society, a nonprofit cat rescue with locations in Ardmore, Newtown Square and Wayne. There, he feeds and cleans up after the cats and helps take blood samples to test for illnesses like feline leukemia. To further aid PALS, Clemens hosts fundraisers at Haverford High School, where he’s a student.
Much like his work at PALS, Clemens is a jack-of-all-trades at Devon’s Black Cat Café, which places cats in loving homes and helps raise funds and awareness for homeless animals. “The idea that all the proceeds go to the cats is really what drives me,” says Clemens. “I wouldn’t do it if it was just for a regular paycheck.”
