PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — An animal lover in Pasco County is making sure every cat and kitten in her community is being taken care of.

But this Everyday Hero is no crazy cat lady.

Dani Giroux has been an animal lover all her life, finding strays and working at animal shelters, all with love and compassion and paying for their food and care with her own money.


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But when she moved into a new home in Pasco, she discovered the stray and feral cat population was out of control.

"We just decided I needed to start the rescue for the community," Giroux said. "That the community needed these resources for these cats and animals because there were so many cats and kittens born outside and they have no place to go.”

In March she founded the non-profit “Runaways Animal Rescue," depending on community financial and volunteer support. She also learned about  TNVR, trap, neuter, vaccinate, release.

"It sterilizes the colony," Giroux said of the protocol. "They’re healthier, they’re vaccinated and they won’t reproduce more kittens to help to control the population.”

One problem - she had no idea how to trap a cat.

"So I went to Google and learned how to trap a cat," she said. "Started trapping ones in my neighborhood.”

We spay them, fix them, put them back outside. that way it controls the population. They’re no longer having cats and kittens but then, also, we pull the kittens and get them adopted.”

And with all the good work she does, does she worry about becoming a crazy cat lady?

"My goal is to get them adopted," she said laughing. "To find them homes so I don’t become that typical crazy cat lady. I don’t need a 100 cats or 80 cats.”