BCR’s Flying Angel is a Movie Star!

 

BCR has a wonderful friend in our “flying angel,” Davica!  This amazing woman has helped get 17 cats to BCR and their forever home!   Meet our wonderful angel!

 

Davica was born on the island paradise of Trinidad.  She and her family moved to Baltimore, MD, when she was nine.  At that time she met her very first cat, an orange cat named Rusty, and a dog named Rover, who became her loving companions and really set her on the path of being an animal lover and advocate.  

After school in Baltimore, Davica went on to earn a degree in performing arts at Adelphi University in New York City!   This is how she became a movie star!  If you watch the movie Strictly Business, you’ll see her in a nightclub scene with Tommy Davidson!   

Davica’s budding screen career was interrupted by a chance to see the world.  She spent some time in Paris working for an airline – with her lovely pet dog and cat - and after a while all three made their way back to the US.  She joined a major airline company about 30 years ago and has been to every continent except Antarctica!  Along the way, Davica has helped many, many animals, among them the 17 BCR cats!

The first BCR cat to fly home with Davica was handsome Nigel in 2016.  He was part of a Miami trailer park community of cats that was rescued and, as a wonderful person was trying to find them homes, he tested positive for feline leukemia.  His rescuer put a post up on Facebook desperately looking for a place for him.  Another BCR volunteer in Raleigh saw the post and called Alana, who was happy to take Nigel!   We just needed to get him to BCR!

Enter, Davica!  A mutual friend of Alana’s and Davica’s, Thorn, contacted Davica about flying him to Raleigh.  As a longtime animal rescuer at this point, she needed to be sure BCR was a good and trustworthy rescue for Nigel.  Thorn told her that BCR is “heaven on earth” and “one of the best rescues there is.”   Davica also watched some BCR videos online and our live 24-hour cameras and saw for herself that Nigel would be fine here.  So he flew to NC and Thorn drove him to BCR from Raleigh.

 
Since then, Davica has flown many kitties to BCR, including, Houdini, Meghan, Mariah, one of our two Crystals, Gabriel, Boomer, MaryAnn, Marlo, Odie, Andrew, Lovey, Pip, Merlin, and Gio!  All these kitties owe their time at BCR to Davica!

As it turns out, Davica and Alana already knew each other before Nigel’s trip.  They had been Facebook friends and Alana offered some advice when Davica was trying to find homes for four blind kittens she had promised to take for a friend who passed away and who were headed for a shelter and certain euthanasia.   Davica had vetted a couple of rescues for these kittens but they didn’t measure up so she ended up keeping them after getting their eyes treated, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered.  These four kitties became companions for her other blind cat.  Since then, she and Alana have become good friends.

What exactly does it take to get a kitty flown to BCR?  Time and planning.  Because she only flies on flights with space available and takes a day off for each rescue trip, it takes Davica about four days to get things lined up and to arrange for the rescuer to bring the kitty to her.  On top of that, her husband, Aniss, also takes that day off so he can care for their rescue pets.

As an airline employee, she can fly as a passenger for free and, with her privileges, kitties with her fly free, too.  Her rules are that any cat she’s traveling with must stop food at 8 a.m. and use the litter box at least once before she takes it over.  A sample trip could be like her recent trip with Mariah, where she first flew from Miami to Orlando where she met the rescuer, and then on to Raleigh.  Davica flies with her own special pet carrier complete with everything to make a kitty comfortable.  She reports that Mariah was a very popular traveler, singing all the way, and gaining lots of fans who wanted to kiss her goodbye when the flight ended.  Once in Raleigh, Davica met up with a BCR volunteer who took Mariah on the last leg of the journey to BCR.

To make sure any kitty she travels with is secure at all times, she has a special request of TSA.  As she goes through the X-ray machine, they hold the cat carrier.  She requests a private room for them to check the carrier itself.  Once there, she takes out the kitty and the security people X-ray the bag  and run their necessary tests.  Once that is done, she puts the kitty back in the bag!  She’s even been known to meet up with rescuers in airport places only she knows about – like private bathrooms where the swap from one carrier to another can be made easily, quietly and safely.

Davica and Aniss have had many pets over the years, all rescues, including dogs, cats and even a possum rescued during a hurricane.  Right now they have two dogs, Max and Sasha, and several cats: Bobo (leukemia-positive), Shadow (one-eyed “pirate”), China (blind, deaf and with cerebellar hypoplasia), Axel (partially blind, slight neurological problems and seizures) and two formerly feral cats who enjoy bunk beds at Davica’s.  Certainly the most unusual pet she has is an African Sulcata Tortoise named Mr. Sandman, who she rescued from the middle of a busy street.  Because he might live to be 150, Davica has included him in her will!

Davica is an established foster mom, a rescuer, and trap-neuter-release volunteer where she lives.  As such, people call her frequently for help and she’s a regular doing adoption fairs at her local PetSmart.   When she flies with kitties these days, they are usually bound for BCR!   We are so grateful to her for all she’s done for our cats!

Davica has not yet visited BCR, which she says is “my favorite rescue in the whole wide world!”  We’re counting on her to come soon, so she can see all the happiness she’s given to our cats!  Thank you, Davica!