COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A Burleson County couple attended Saturday’s Texas A&M football game with the intention of cheering on the Aggies and spending time with friends.
When the husband, Bobby Mikulin, began to have an anxiety attack due to the large crowds he stepped away from the stands to calm down. As he picked up a couple of drinks from the concession booth, something grabbed his attention.
"This cat just came running through the crowd and out onto a ledge, and... I just knew that nobody was probably going to pay much attention to her," he said.
Mikulin wrapped a raincoat around his arm and grabbed the cat off the ledge by her scruff. His wife, Danielle Mikulin, helped him wrap the cat in another jacket for security.
"When I do have the anxiety attacks, it can be hard to get out of my own head and thoughts that are in there," Bobby said. "So when the cat came through, it kind of snapped me out of it and gave me something else to focus on. I was like, you know what, I’m going to focus on this cat, and that helped me kind of get through.”
Texas A&M Athletics told KRHD that while they do not officially support any feral cat colonies, they don’t deter cats from roaming the stadium, as cats control pests.
But while this cat - named ‘Kylie’ by the couple after Kyle Field - may be shy and skittish, her rescuers don’t believe she is feral. The Mikulins help to run a small rescue in Burleson county called Haven Animal Rescue of Texas, and have scanned Kylie for a microchip; of which there was none.
“We didn’t really think about taking her to Aggieland [Humane Society], because I know they’re like every other shelter right now and they’re [packed].”
The family has decided that if no one reclaims Kylie, they’ll continue to foster her at their home and put her up for adoption through Haven.
With shelters overcrowding all across the state, the couple said that cats like Kylie wouldn’t have a chance without people willing to foster them.
And in a way, fostering can bless more than just animals.
“I told [Bobby], I know it’s all mushy and poetic, but it’s almost like you guys saved each other that day," Danielle said. "She got you out of your head and you helped her."
When it comes to saving homeless animals, for overburdened shelters, foster families really are the 12th Man.