If you visit Bear Hardware anytime soon, you’re sure to receive a warm greeting from their new employee, Linda — if she’s not too busy chasing down mice.
Normally perched at the top of feed bag stacks, Linda was hired on to bring down the mouse population. And not only was she given a mission at the hardware store, she was given a home.
Melissa Olmsted got in contact with the Brown County Humane Society when holes started appearing in Bear Hardware’s animal feed bags.
The right choice for pest control was to adopt a feline friend.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“We called the humane society,” Olmsted said. “We definitely wanted a rescue, something that wouldn’t be bothered by dogs, needs to be friendly and needs to be a mouser.”
The humane society’s Erika Imhoff believed that Linda came in as a stray. She was a very active cat, curious and wanting to be out and about.
“She could get feisty when people came around, which made her hard to adopt,” Imhoff said. “She had a lot of energy and needed space to expel it. … We knew she was the one (Bear) needed.”
Linda has found the perfect space to do that. She had caught three mice the previous day in just 20 minutes. “She has totally fulfilled her obligation,” Olmsted said.
“She has the rule of the place.”
When asked if the humane society often matches people with animals, Imhoff said they do what they need to when they can.
“We have a committee that specifically meets to talk about animals that have been there for a while,” she said. “We had identified Linda as a cat that needed to be a barn cat; we weren’t quite sure.”
The shop is a perfect place for Linda, who roams the aisles assisting patrons.
Imhoff recommends shop-cat adoptions under certain circumstances. “They have to be there every day. … We think shop cats are fantastic. It could be a cat that doesn’t particularly like people; a friendly cat can be a great ambassador at a shop. It’s a wonderful option to consider.”
With some people receiving pets as gifts this time of year, Olmsted wanted to remind people that it is a lifelong obligation for the animal. Imhoff emphasized the importance of rescuing an animal if you’re going to get one.
“It’s a great time to adopt if you’re adopting around Christmas break, because people will be home. They’ll get to spend more time with the adopted animal, settling them in initially,” she said.
“And if they get them as gifts, it’s often better if they tell (the recipient) they’re going to do it together.”
Imhoff also believes that Nashville has a unique opportunity for shop animal adoption. Sometimes, the adoptive home of an animal in need doesn’t have to be a house, but it can be the open doors of an office or shop willing to take them in.
“You can just see the gratefulness in a rescued animal,” Olmsted said.
