Cat People (2021) s01e04 Episode Script

[light-hearted music playing]
[Sterling] You could be white, Black,
brown, green, purple
If you gonna help the cats,
we're on the same team.
The rescue community shows unity,
and love, and compassion.
This one baby right there,
waiting like, "What are y'all doing?"
Gray and white one.
[Sarah] I had no idea
how to get all of this started.
I just knew
that I had an idea to ask people
if they wanted to raise money with me
and then donate it.
Mr. B!
But so many people work in cat rescue,
as I've learned over the last few years,
who give so much of their own funds,
and not just in a money sense,
but in their time,
and the opportunity cost
of what else
they could be doing with their life.
And so that's how Mr. B's Random Acts
of Kindness was formed.
I wanted to be able to find a way
to honor the people who
um, just sometimes, who go unnoticed.
[opening theme music playing]
[Sterling] Damita's my good luck charm.
She she keep me sane sometimes.
A lot of times, when I'm in here,
you never know, you could be trapping for
five, ten minutes.
Five hours.
So, while I'm in here,
it's my little buddy keeping me company.
That's who I be talking to,
hanging around.
That's my little rider.
- Huh, DJ?
- [meows]
Damita?
I think she mad right now.
She want the maximum AC going.
[laughing]
It's okay, Damita.
When I was young,
I would play with all the cats outside,
'cause my grandma, my mom,
none of them would let me have cats.
My baby. Yeah, that's my baby.
So, I would always sneak 'em
into my grandma's basement,
I would play with them outside.
- DJ
- [meowing]
[laughing] I love you.
Is that my baby?
Me growing up, having a rough childhood,
I think I just bonded with with cats.
Aww.
[scatting]
My mother was with an abusive man.
The first ten years of my life,
this guy abused me and my mother.
I started going through custody battles.
I would live with my grandmother,
then I would live with my aunt,
then I would live
with a friend of the family.
And this went on for about 13 years.
So, nothing stayed the same
except for pets.
I just bonded with that.
It was a way to escape that reality.
I think that helped me out a whole lot,
was cats.
And now, I feel like I'm rescuing them
because they rescued me, so good deal.
[meowing]
Damita, it's okay, baby.
We're gonna stop in a minute. Good move!
Just slam dunked yourself in there.
All right, I'm sorry.
My non-profit, it's about "TNR,"
which is "Trap, Neuter, Return."
A lot of people euthanize the cats,
but if they knew
that there was a humane alternative
that would also help with the rodents,
I think a lot of people
would be into it more.
[night chirping]
[cat meowing]
[Sarah] So, at about 3:50 every morning,
Mr. B starts meowing, and you can hear him
from outside the door,
and you know that he's ready,
and he knows
that it's time for us to get up.
Mornings are my favorite time of day.
Come on, bub.
[warm music playing]
- So, we have six cats at the moment.
- [meowing]
And we refer lovingly to our house
as the Fur Farm.
That name started
because I have really long hair,
and Chris happens to be a hairy guy,
and we have six cats
that are covered in hair,
so we call this place the Fur Farm.
Now we're ready. Here you go, buddy.
Mr. B, you ready?
- [meowing]
- Come on, sweetheart.
The cats tend to be the sweetest
in the morning.
We feed them together in one space.
The smacking of their wet food,
and just the meowing,
and all their energy in the morning
is what starts our day on the right foot.
[meowing]
Yeah.
Oh [speaking indistinctly]
[Chris] I think, to me,
that's kind of an important part
of keeping a healthy relationship
with your pets.
I think it's a It's probably
the most important bonding thing
we do with them on a day-to-day basis.
Come here, you,
as you have a Mom and Daddy hug.
[kissing]
[Sarah] We love working with animals.
We love that we help other people
who work in cat rescue,
and we love having cats as companions,
and they add so much joy
and laughter to our life.
- Oh. [laughing]
- There it is.
There it is, yeah.
- No filming with the glasses.
- [Sarah laughing]
[Sarah] I don't think Chris or I
ever saw ourselves
working in rescue, per se.
It's a natural affinity, I think,
that Chris and I both didn't know we had
that's been a lot of fun over the years.
What started Mr. B's Random Acts
of Kindness
was the Catsbury Park Cat Convention,
and it was a really awesome day.
Getting to hear people's stories,
learning about their experiences.
We get to interact
with all of these different cat rescuers.
Getting to learn
about the work that they do.
And then just getting to interact
with people who generally love cats.
There was one person in particular
that really stood out, among all of them.
Um, Sterling Davis.
He goes by "The Original TrapKing"
on on social media.
He got up, and he shared his story.
If I could if if I could show people
that you could be strong,
tough, masculine, whatever,
but still compassionate,
still care for cats,
still working with TNR
and doing animal rescue,
it's so important.
That's what it's all about.
We grow up,
and we're encouraged to go to school,
and pick a major,
and learn all of these things
so that we can go get some job
that's gonna make us a ton of money,
and that's our version of success.
And that's taught to us.
What I saw on that stage, though,
was a person who
flew in the face of all of that and said,
"You know, what I really care about,
though, is working with animals,
and specifically working with cats."
[Sterling] Right now, all across America,
you have huge colonies of cats,
and a lot of people don't know
what TNR is.
They don't know that you could actually,
humanely, control the population
Oh, yeah, they'd probably mess with that.
Oh, they gonna love it.
versus euthanizing them,
and right now, that's happening a lot.
I'm gonna line these up
with some newspaper,
in case they poop or pee in there.
A clean trap is an active trap.
I use all of them.
People donate traps too,
so I'm not afraid to use them.
But the only thing about the Havahart trap
is that when they come in here,
trap plate
They slam down like that. It's
Like I said, it's already
a traumatic situation for the cat,
so it's like, "Dang."
You need the noise of
The sound effects of it, too.
So that's the only thing I don't like
about Havahart, but they work.
I literally sold everything I had,
put it into this van,
and I live out of this vehicle,
because you can't afford rent
and cat surgeries at the same time.
You'd go broke.
So, I put everything in this van,
started my non-profit,
and I've been on the go since, man.
I'm gonna take a couple,
put them over here
see what we can get.
So, the first thing of TNR is trapping.
[light-hearted music playing]
It was raining,
drizzling a little bit earlier,
so they probably took a little cover.
They gonna smell that food, baby.
They gonna smell that food.
Sometimes, too, you can go places,
and you'll smell the
you'll smell cat pee.
You might smell some poop or something.
That'll let you know they're around, too.
[cat grunting]
But right now
I don't really see nobody,
but we're gonna see.
Feeling like a bounty hunter.
Come up with a creative way
to get this cat to cooperate
and go in the trap.
Still can't believe that
I'm not seeing these babies like that.
Usually, the kittens,
they'd be playing or something.
I'm driven by being able to get
the word out to get TNR to a level
of being as common as recycling.
That's what I'm talking about.
That's why I say gates
and barriers are your best friend.
Over the course of probably eight years
since I've been doing this,
I think I'm in the thousands now.
About to move a trap and set it here.
He was laying right there, chilling.
Right in the storm drain.
That's where they at.
He was laying right there.
I'm about to set a trap right there.
[clicking tongue, kissing]
I'm out here doing TNR,
and I could get into the real deal,
trap some cats.
The kitty is smart,
but the King is patient.
[chuckling]
[cell phone chimes]
[Sarah] Hey, come on.
Let's go, bud.
You ready? Let's go, big bubba.
I started to really get a sense for how
much I missed having animals in my life
from being in the military.
All throughout my life,
I had a natural gravitation
and love for animals.
The top.
That's more pronounced
now that I'm an adult.
[light-hearted music playing]
I feel oftentimes that Mr. B led me
to do work that's on my heart.
It all started
when I was scrolling on my phone one day
on Instagram,
and I dead-stopped on this photo.
And it's this picture of Mr. B,
and the way she's holding him,
and the expression on his face
just looks a little sad, but really sweet.
So, I immediately took a screenshot
on my phone,
sent the picture to Chris and said,
"Can we please, oh, please have Mr. B?"
And he wrote back immediately,
"I would take him in a heartbeat."
Behind the scenes,
this photo was going viral.
They received about 3,000 applications
for Mr. B in that weekend.
Mr. B, are you being a good boy?
Buist, where are you?
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, he's stuck under Mr. B. [laughing]
He was 26 pounds.
That was certainly too much weight
for his frame.
You know, you could say he's chunky.
So, the chonk, I think, is popular
because it's all the things that you love
that almost make your shoulders go up.
You're like, "Oh, so cute!"
But, really, what I see is an animal
that has a very poor shot
at a really long, happy life.
And so, that's concerning to me.
Do it for the Gram.
Come on this side. I do it for the Gram.
[camera clicking]
So, we told Morris Animal Refuge
that our real concern for Mr. B was his
Just well-being.
They knew that we were committed to him
in the long run.
Oh, my goodness.
I think it's why they ultimately chose us
as a home for Mr. B.
You wanna come home with me?
It's been a really big gift for me
um, to be involved in cat rescue.
Going all the way back
to me being a little girl,
it's really clear for me now to see
that I've loved animals all along,
and so this feels very purposeful for me
to be here now.
[birds chirping]
[Sterling] Well, believe it or not,
my background is actually in music.
[Sterling rapping indistinctly]
I was doing rap.
With my music,
I always wanted to make a difference,
so it wasn't crazy for me
to see something like TNR and cat rescue.
When I started doing it, I was like,
"Man, I didn't know there was no men
and Black people involved in this."
I mean, music is great,
but standing on stage
looking cool is one thing.
It's another thing to literally be able
to get a whole new demographic
into TNR and cat rescue.
I'm driven by being able to help that.
[cats meowing]
[meowing]
[humming excitedly]
We gotta have dance steps for this one,
because they wasn't coming out at first.
They was actin' like
they was gonna outsmart the King.
Look at you, look at you!
Once they get in there,
the first thing I do
after I get done dancing and celebrating,
you wanna cover the cat up
because they scared.
They gonna bounce back and forth,
and they can hurt themselves in there
if they get too excited.
When a cat first goes in the trap,
believe me, I get it.
It looks scary,
it looks crazy because it is.
I mean, you think if you're going out
to a restaurant,
your favorite restaurant,
you walk in, you look at the menu,
and then, "Bam!"
The door shuts closed
[chuckles] it get dark, the lights
go out, everything goes crazy.
You would flip out, too,
so it is a traumatic situation.
But this is the only humane alternative
to euthanasia.
I hate when they do that.
They'll bang back and forth
and get so scared.
I've had some bloody their nose
before with it, so
- [meowing]
- Calm down.
It's okay. It is okay.
I promise we're on the same team.
- [bang]
- [meowing]
Oh, crap!
Are you about to move it? [chuckling] Wow!
- [cat screeching]
- Okay!
That's what I was saying,
like, not seeing them like that.
They hangin' out in them storm drains,
and I'm starting to think they got,
probably, a gym down there
because they all lifting weights, clearly.
- [cat screeches]
- [metal clanging]
You'll be all right.
So many more to go.
Mission don't stop, y'all. Does not stop.
[dogs barking]
Haters. [laughing]
[purring]
[Sarah] So 3,000 people
wanted to adopt him,
and I think people were really curious
to hear where his story ended up,
so we created an Instagram account
for Mr. B
- Ready? Touch.
- [camera clicking]
to keep in touch with the people
who fell in love with him and his story.
[laughing] Don't push it off the table!
People gravitated towards him,
and they just had this love
for this giant cat.
You're a cat, I'm a cat. Let's go!
Let's go! [laughing]
If you asked me a year ago,
I had no idea that I would have Mr. B
and that, you know, almost 23,000 people
would follow us
and our daily life on social media,
or that we would have raised
all of this money,
and that we would be, um, cat advocates.
B, seriously,
you couldn't be cuter if you tried.
So, every single day,
I typically post something
between, like, 4:30 and seven a.m.
We all talk about
how terrible social media is for us
and how bad people are on social media.
But what I've seen from Mr. B's account
is we don't hear negative things
from people.
Nobody's ill-spirited.
So, for me, it's been this experience
of being able to fall in love
with social media
for the purpose of why we have it,
to be connected to one another.
A lot of people ask me, like,
"What does Mr. B think
about being famous?"
And I'm like,
"Well, Mr. B's a cat, so he just"
Look at him twitching in his dream.
Can you see him twitching?
Oh, my God, Mr. B, you're too much.
I love this cat.
Good boy.
Oh, someone loves
to be brushed so much, huh?
Yes. [kisses]
This is the best.
When we brought Mr. B home,
he was 26 pounds.
You want some Churu?
It's not safe to let cats lose
too much weight too quickly.
[laughing]
We spent months working with Mr. B,
with his weight,
in conjunction with our vet,
and in experimenting
with a couple of different foods
and things he likes,
and then start him on a regimen
to start having him lose
some of that weight.
Good boy.
Oh, good boy. You're so smart. [laughing]
The first time I ever saw them
do this together, I
Like, I still, to this day,
can't stop laughing,
and they eat these things together
consistently. [laughing]
So cute! Look, they're licking my hand.
[laughing]
He's down from 26 pounds to 22.
Are you hungry?
Yeah, you're really hungry, huh?
We measure out the amount of food
he's supposed to eat for the day,
given his size
and how much weight he should be losing,
and we feed that to him
in a moderated way
Hey, Bubba.
which we're really proud of
because we did that naturally.
- Right. That's my big kitty! [kissing]
- [Mr. B purring]
Yeah. [kisses]
And it's moving him in the right direction
and helping him be healthier, overall.
[Sterling] So, the second thing with TNR
is neutering.
It's where we're at, Atlanta Humane,
about to get ready for a little spay day.
Snip and tip.
Taking 'em in. [laughing]
It's not just one person or one group.
It's gonna be a collective of everybody.
It's all right, babies.
As tough as it is, I think we'll do it.
We're gonna get it done. [laughing]
- [woman] Hello.
- [Sterling] Hello, hello, hello.
[woman] We got babies.
[Sterling] We got babies.
[cats meowing]
Thanks.
[peaceful music playing]
[cats meowing]
I know, babies. I know.
Yeah, I know.
- [clicking tongue]
- [distressed meowing]
So, from here,
they gonna go ahead and get spayed,
and we'll, um, come back and pick them up.
And from there,
I'll know what sex they are.
Um, like I said, males stay for 24 hours,
females for 48 hours,
uh, as far as healing,
and then back to the block.
Gotta gotta get your beard right.
[chuckling]
All right, all right, all right.
I'm good. Gotta stay on point.
I don't mind a minimalist lifestyle.
It's not like,
"Oh, my goodness, I'm torturing myself."
No, I I like this lifestyle. I chose it.
It wasn't like I went broke and was like,
"I guess I'm broke."
"I might as well trap some cats
and live out of my van." No.
It's not I wouldn't say,
"Feel sorry for me."
I love this. I love what I'm doing.
[rap music playing on radio]
[Sterling rapping] Yeah, yeah ♪
Let's go trap ♪
Yeah ♪
Check it out ♪
I got dry and wet ♪
I got Mac on deck ♪
All my traps be set ♪
Where is your cat at? ♪
Sitting on your street ♪
With that nip on me ♪
Every cat you see
Coming with the King ♪
Let's go trap
I got dry and wet ♪
I got Mac on deck ♪
All my traps be set ♪
Where is your cat at? ♪
Let's go trap
Sitting on your street ♪
With that nip on me ♪
Every cat you see
Coming with the King ♪
Let's go trap ♪
Yeah ♪
Yeah ♪
[machine beeping]
First, she's not gonna have babies,
so we're kind of stopping that cycle.
Um, one cat unaltered,
one female cat can lead to
I mean, everybody's seen the pyramids
of thousands and thousands of cats.
The other thing that it helps
is that she'll be much less likely
to get some contagious diseases
that cats share,
like feline leukemia and feline AIDS,
so we're protecting her
from lots of stuff.
Thanks to Sterling.
This would not have happened without him.
[Sterling rapping] Come get that Mac
Come snip the tip ♪
Bring the cat right back, ha! ♪
So, right now, we at my aunt's house.
Decatur, Georgia.
Um, like I said,
because I stay out of my van,
I can't just have these babies
riding around with me forever,
so I usually let them chill,
heal here, or a friend's house.
So that's where we at now,
my aunt's house.
Gonna drop these babies off.
Let them do a little healing and chilling.
[chill music playing]
[Sarah] I put a call out
on our Instagram one day and said,
"I've been tossing around this idea
in the back of my mind
about raising money and and donating it
to people who work in cat rescue."
"What do you guys think?"
And all day long,
I kept checking my phone,
and people were commenting saying,
"Where's the link? Where can I donate?"
Each week, I open up our GoFundMe page.
I check it daily from my phone,
but I bring up the browser,
and I spend time
going through all of our donors.
Um, so, this is the general GoFundMe page
of where people can come
and read about the campaign itself.
We've made ten donations so far,
and I try to space them out
a little bit more now
so about every two weeks or so,
and, um, that gives us time
to raise money in between
and then also continue to promote it.
Immediately,
I knew that the first donation
was gonna go to Sterling.
Sterling was what really inspired me
to start any type of fundraiser,
let alone what we ended up calling
"Mr. B's Random Acts of Kindness."
I knew that that donation
was gonna go to him.
And when we posted and shared his story,
there were hundreds of comments
across both his social media account
and mine.
Even from our followers, too, they said,
"We've been following Sterling
for a long time,
and I can't think of a more
deserving person than him
to receive something like this,"
which was really special.
[whistle blowing]
[cats meowing]
[Sterling] Come on, baby.
Come on, Alanis.
- Look. Look what you got.
- [meowing]
[whistle blowing]
Go on.
It's time to eat, mama.
That's a good girl. Come on, baby.
Here. Right here.
- Come here, Alanis.
- [meowing]
Say, "Hey."
Say, "I'm the itty-bitty sis."
"I'm Mini Mita."
Yeah.
[cats meowing]
That's the sound
of some babies ready to go home,
ready to go back to their colony.
I know it, babies.
We was just trying to get some grub.
I know! And the crazy bald guy came.
I know it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Load these babies up,
get ready for one
of the most important parts of TNR,
which is the return.
It's very important to catch,
return back to their colony
where they came from.
[warm music playing]
My favorite saying is,
"You don't lose cool points
for compassion."
And I'm in a position to help.
I'm in a position
to really make a positive difference.
I'm surprised they that quiet back there.
They was letting me have it earlier.
We almost home, though, babies.
My goal is always to have
a positive effect
on every living creatures' path I cross.
And I feel like I'm able to do that
with cats and people.
- [grunts] I know it, I know it.
- [meowing]
I know.
I know, babies.
I know it. Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
But y'all about to be so happy.
Back on the block.
All right, I told y'all
we was on the same team.
Check it out. Boom!
[meowing]
[Sterling chuckles]
[laughing]
Man! It's
Look, and they
they do the little look-back.
I'm telling you, in my mind,
it's like the look-back is like, "Thanks."
But it feel good to have them back.
Like, they'll be comfortable, but
Man, that's that's good. Like
spayed, neutered, vaccinated.
That's the life, that's the life.
[uplifting music playing]
Hey!
[laughing]
Hi!
What's up? [laughing]
You gotta give Mr. B
some chin scratches from me.
Oh, I absolutely will.
- Lots of head pets and cheek kisses.
- Right, right, right.
[both laughing]
- He's so squishable! [laughing]
- Headbutts and slow blinks.
[Sarah] When I saw you on stage,
I was like,
"That's, like,
God-given purpose in action."
"That's, like, purpose being lived out
the way that it's meant to."
I know Mr. B's account got kicked off
because I came to a convention
and met you.
So, um, I don't know
that I'll ever be able to say "thank you."
Certainly, a donation is not enough.
Trust me, like I said, that helped a lot.
You fixing those babies right now
that I caught,
and then you're gonna help me
upgrade my home here,
that you see me in, my van.
Are you gonna put the stickers
on the new the new digs, too?
I gotta put the cats all over it like
Just like with the van.
I'm gonna have some paw prints
all over somewhere. [laughing]
So, what's next on the list now for you?
Hit the road. I wanna travel,
I wanna shine the light on colony feeders,
uh, other rescue groups.
- It's time to do it. It's time to go.
- Yeah.
The rescue community shows unity,
and love, and compassion still,
and it's just not a lot of that right now,
you know, in the world.
We could use it.
So, it's it's a special community,
and I hope
people could look at this and see it,
and see how much we love it,
see how much the love of this
can bring us together.
I think it's an amazing thing.
You always have a welcome place
here in our home.
You always have a friend in Philly, so
Um, someday, hopefully,
we get down there to see you, too,
and, um, get out there
and work alongside you, as well.
When y'all come out,
I'll have I'll have something
a little bit bigger than the van, so
[both laughing]
Thank you, thank you, thank you
from the bottom of my heart.
- This means everything. Virtual hugs.
- Love you so much.
Yes! Oh, my God,
even Booncy's saying "bye."
"Bye, Sterling!"
Bye-bye. Love y'all.
Bye! Love you, too. [laughing]
So, from one of my songs,
"Trap Like You Know,"
Headbutts and slow blinks
I don't care what the world thinks ♪
'Cause I'm gonna save them
And do this world a favor ♪
So, please, everybody
Practice TNR and trap like you know ♪
Peace.
[Sterling rapping] 'Cause, baby
I'm gonna save 'em ♪
I'm gonna save 'em ♪
And so trap like you know ♪
Y'all remember the Trap Van?
Not like it went somewhere.
And that's why
I had to go live with y'all right now
to say thank you,
because from the Trap Van,
y'all made this here possible.
That's the Trap RV.
- [chuckling]
- Trap like you know it ♪
Mm-hmm
I hear people saying trappin' ain't hot ♪
Meow
I don't know a better way if not ♪
Same people that probably don't adopt
Meow ♪
Trollee hit the Brio
Didn't stop, boy, stop ♪
I be making moves, aye ♪
I learned the hard way
Not to argue with fools, aye ♪
People from a distance
Can't tell who was who, aye ♪
When the fact that I'm true
Don't need to be approved ♪
Look at here
You ain't gotta love the King ♪
If it's about cats
Then we still same team ♪
Either way it go
I'mma still do my thing, yeah ♪
Straight from the heart
'Cause it ain't about ♪