Deke the cat scores home after years at Deacon’s Corner

He was a fixture at Deacon’s corner since 2022, diving into the A&W dumpster for scraps and scurrying into culverts for at least two winters.

But before the latest cold snap this winter, and after a lot of tries, Deke the fluffy black cat was caught.

Multiple photos of the elusive feline were posted on Southeast and Winnipeg Facebook pages, including Southeast Manitoba lost and found animals. That is where Tracie MacLeod, who volunteers with Steinbach Animal Rescue, was able to announce Deke was finally caught after years of deking out all other efforts. He is now with a foster.

MacLeod said it was during construction in the fall of 2022 that she first spotted the cat.

“I was stuck in the traffic and couldn’t get out to see if he was OK,” said MacLeod, who was on her way to Winnipeg that day.

“On my way back I stopped and grabbed cat food, and I couldn’t find the cat. But I left the food there for him.”

She came back the very next day.

“The food was gone but I could not find the cat, so I left more food.”

MacLeod did later spot Deke again, this time jumping out of a garbage bin.

“And it looked like he might have had some onion rings,” she said.

“I tried to get close to him and I realized he had no trust. There was no trust left for people so there was no way I could capture him.”

She thought that since sightings were sporadic, maybe there was a house the cat returned to.

But others started posting Deke’s image on Facebook. Then on Nov. 19 this fall, MacLeod spotted the cat — again with restaurant scraps. She gave more food to the hungry stray, who gobbled it up vigourously.

“And it was so cold and I felt so bad, I’m like that’s it. This is done, we’re going to do something tonight.”

She went to Facebook and the response was overwhelming.

“I was inundated. There was like 500 people messaging me about the cat,” said MacLeod after the rescue.

“Everybody knew, hundreds of people knew that this cat was there and everyone was involved, but nobody could catch him.

“When I’d seen that response I knew this was bigger than I could do so I knew Hari has an amazing reputation with feral cats. So I got a hold of him and he was like ‘I’m on it.’”

That was Mistir Hari, who has been catching cats in retirement and working with animal rescues and fosters to find homes for them with his 20-year-old assistant Sara for over two years.

It took multiple tries, but Deke was finally enticed into a cage with food as temperatures started getting colder.

“I’ve spent a month gathering as much information from trail cam video I could to learn his habits and timing. Yesterday after securing a room for him with one of my best fosters with a gift for socializing our most terrified rescues. I knew I would get Deke before I set out. My secret weapon was a trap disguised as a plain cardboard box.

“He was extremely clever but what cat can resist a box in the ditch where he’s been fed regularly for a month.

“This was a costly catch driving back and forth from Steinbach regularly to check and set cameras and making sure there was regular food available.

But so so worth it,” described Hari to his followers in December.

Not all cats want a home. Generations have formed a colony of over 30 cats near Lorette. Hari tries to house the ones that can be socialized, provides shelter and food for those that can’t, and get them all fixed. Fur Babies Canada have provided food for them.

“All in all, our little rescue which consists of two of us and now a handful of volunteers, we feed about between 50-60 cats a day all over the place between Lorette and our many fosters,” explained Hari.

Those fosters live in Winnipeg, Niverville, Steinbach, La Broquerie and Ste Anne.

“That’s the toughest part of rescue is the fostering, it’s finding a home.”

Hari said along with taking applications for fosters, they collect donations to help with the expenses of spay and neutering, which vets have provided at cost. A male cat costs $121 to fix, vaccinate, deworm and tattoo. Most spays and neuters are done by Oakbank Animal Hospital.

That was made harder after his Facebook account was as he describes it, hacked, forcing him to start collecting contacts all over again. Hari said he lost about 1,000 followers.

Anyone interested in fostering or looking to donate can find his account on Facebook under Mistir Hari and can email catscratchrescue@gmail.com or hellowhiskerscatrescue@gmail.com.

He has also spent time outside the Winnipeg courthouse advocating that alleged animal abusers Irene Lima and Chad Kabecz be denied bail. So far, judges have agreed they should not be let out ahead of trial.