"Everybody knows me as the cop that loves cats," said Officer Gretchen Byrne of Boca Raton, Fla.
A Florida police station has sheltered dozens of furry visitors after a kindhearted cop adopted the stray kittens off the street.
Read: Kind-Hearted Police Officer Adopts Stray Kitten Brought to the Station During Night Shift
When Gretchen Byrne, 42, of Boca Raton, is patrolling, she often takes the time to pick up abandoned kittens and bring them back to the station.
In total, 63 cats have passed through its doors, each one getting pampered by different officers and police employees before going home with Byrne at the end of the day.
"Everybody knows me as the cop that loves cats,” Byrne, who has worked in law enforcement for 18 years, told SWNS.
Byrne normally keeps the cats she rescues at her home, but the youngest of the bunch she brings with her to the station during her long shifts.
"I will get three breaks: A 40-minute lunch break and two 10-minute breaks. Instead of going for pizza with my colleagues I use that time to run to the station and feed them,” she explained. "It all comes out of my paycheck at the end of the day but I don't have kids so it is probably still cheaper than having kids.”
Byrne said it all started two years ago, when she came across a group of stray cats scavenging for scraps in an alley. She already had four cats at the time, and knew shelters would be too full to take in more strays.
She continued to keep an eye on them, until one day, a litter of kittens were born. That's when Byrne started taking cats to her precinct.
When some colleagues asked about adopting the kittens, she was inspired to begin rescuing more cats by taking them in, having them neutered, and helping them find new homes through her Instagram page.
Read: Purr-Fect Ending: Stray Kitten Rescued After Shutting Down Traffic on Busy Highway
"At times I'll have eight cats in my home at once. It's a lot, but if I wasn't doing this, there would be an abundance of cats on the streets,” she explained. "The other thing is that is really nice to come home and have kittens to help me destress. I'm dealing with a lot of stuff on road patrol.”
To support Byrne’s mission to rescue stray cats, visit her Amazon registry.
