What kind of man cares for feral cats?
By Kim Brady

I've come to look forward to certain stops as I travel between Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. One is a rest area in Cook County, GA, about 47 miles north of the Florida state line on I-75. A family of feral cats, popular with travelers like myself, live in the storm drains, occasionally coming out to visit with the local maintenance crew and to accept pieces of leftover chicken or hamburger from travelers.

This week, I met an incredible man there, George Brownfoot, a Vietnam vet working around the grounds of the facility. When I asked how the feline family was doing, he told me that the Cook County DOT rounded up all but a few of the kittens and took them away to be adopted. George and other members of the maintenance crew found homes for as many cats as possible before the roundup.

"They were such beautiful cats," he said. "There was a big striped male, a mother with a litter of kittens and even a Siamese. I'm a grown man and I had tears in my eyes when they took those cats away."

What kind of man cares so deeply for a community of feral cats? Mr. Brownfoot is a Special Forces veteran who served his country carrying out dangerous, secret operations in Southeast Asia. But instead of coming home to bask in the glory of his bravery, he returned with a broken body. It was all he could do to find a job like this one pushing a broom, collecting trash and saving wild kittens. When I shook his hand, I could feel the pain in his stiff, crooked fingers, but he was a happy and proud man.

What made George Brownfoot even more special, to me anyway, was his ancestry. George is three-quarters American Indian. His roots are Choctaw (the same tribe as my great grandmother), Nez Perce and Spanish. He wears small silver tomahawks in his ears that invite teasing from his fellow workers. "I just tell them, they can tease all they want, but I was here first!"

He was thrilled, as was I, to meet another Choctaw in the heart of Cherokee country. It was a rare and memorable encounter!