Kittens + Footballers = Adorable Rescue Initiative

BC Lions Football Club teams up with kitten rescue group to raise awareness for adoption

Roar Little Lions Roar!

Kitten season is now in full swing, which means that there is a surplus of rescue kittens in need of homes. In an adorable partnership, the BC Lions Football Club has teamed up with the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA) to help name nine “little lions” and find them loving homes!

We reached out to Josh Klaassen, the Manager of Video Production with the BC Lions, to talk about the initiative with VOKRA.

Q: How did you come up with the idea to partner with VOKRA?

“A friend of mine, Madeleine Belanger, is a volunteer foster mom for VOKRA, and the cat she is looking after gave birth to nine kittens. She is very active on social and has a following of her own through her creative brand, Considerate Cat. My social feeds were bombarded with adorable kitten clips. It was from a conversation with her that we stumbled on the idea of connecting the big cat brand of the BC Lions with real life adorable cats and kittens. As the Video Manager with the football team, I’m always looking for content. When Madie mentioned having to eventually name the litter, I thought it would be cute if they all had Lions names!”

Q: Can you describe the initiative for us?

“It’s gone through a couple transformations. Honestly, it was as simple as, ‘Here are nine kittens. Let’s give them BC Lions names, take a picture with them and their namesake, whether it’s a player, coach, general manager or mascot, and send it out to the internet for people to enjoy and give extra awareness to VOKRA in the process!’”

Q: What are you hoping to achieve?

“The BC Lions make tremendous efforts every year to reach the community through different initiatives. The players are often in schools teaching kids about positive life choices, staying active, violence against women, and the ‘Be More Than a Bystander’ program, even saving energy. This is another opportunity to promote a good message and a wonderful organization, VOKRA, who is doing so much to find cats without homes a family to love. It’s a duty as a big cat ourselves! Essentially, I’d like to continue strengthening our brand as a compassionate contributor in the community and point anyone interested in adoption to a great local option in VOKRA.”

Q: What has fan response been like so far?

“Right away folks were messaging either ourselves or VOKRA about getting their hands on the kittens! They already have homes at this point but there are so many more looking, hopefully we are filling Lions’ fans homes with felines!”

Q: What names are leading in the polls? 

“I’m not sure. I know I really like the name Reilly, hope that one wins! And I mean c’mon, A little orange Leo the Lion, how great is that!”

To vote on your favourite name for the kittens and to see which names are leading the polls, check out the BC Lions website. For more information on VOKRA and on cat adoption, please go to their homepage at orphankittenrescue.com.

Photo Credit: Madeleine Belanger