When Tawni Marcil found out the pulp mill she works for is closing, she immediately started worrying about the cats who live there.
Marcil is one of 350 workers on Vancouver Island who are losing their jobs after Domtar announced in early December 2025 that it’s shutting down its pulp mill in Crofton, B.C.
For almost as long as the mill has existed, Marcil says, the worksite has been home to a population of feral cats, who the workers feed and take care of.
“It’s like coming to work and having pets that you love like your own at home,” Marcil told CBC’s The National. “Every time I see them, they come running to me. I pretty much have been able to pet all of them. They all have names.”
So for the last month — even as she faces her own uncertain future — Marcil has been working with local cat rescue organizations to round up the mill cats, remove them from the site, and find them new homes.
Part of the mill’s history
The mill in Crofton has been operating for 68 years, according to ChekNews, which first reported this story.
In its early days, Marcil says there were hundreds of cats there. But over the years, thanks to trap-neuter-release programs, she says the population has whittled down to about 14, all scattered around different parts of the worksite.
Marcil has worked at the mill as a lead hand for 12 years. About nine years ago, when the millwright who had led the charge on the cats’ care retired, she took up the responsibility.
She says looking after the cats has become a routine part of the job for her and several other mill workers.
“I was absolutely devastated when it sunk in that I wouldn’t be able to see them anymore,” she said. “I felt like I was abandoning them, really. I just couldn’t do it.”
As It Happens6:27Rescue organization finds new homes for worksite cats after B.C. mill closes
Kirsten Belday, founder of Foster Kritters Feral Cat Rescue, tells As It Happens host Nil Köksal about the Crofton Mill cats.
Kirsten Belday, founder of Foster Kritters Feral Cat Rescue, says they’ve managed to trap all but one of the felines so far — something she says would have been impossible without Marcil’s help.
“When I come down to try and trap them, they scatter,” Belday told Nil Köksal, host of CBC Radio’s As It Happens. “But because they know her and trust her, she’s actually been able to trap the majority of the cats for us.”
All of the cats are elderly, between the ages of 12 and 18, Belday said. Some are undernourished, and almost all need extensive dental work, which the organization has paid for through local fundraising.
Even though the community is struggling financially with the mill’s closure, Belday says people have been generous.
Only a handful of the cats are social enough to be put up for adoption, Belday said. The rest will be sent to RAPS Cat Sanctuary in Richmond, B.C.
“They’ll live out their life in health and safety, and get all the care they need,” she said.
Mechanic adopts his favourite boy
But one lucky kitty — Wasabi — has already found his forever home.
Instrument mechanic Elliot Cole, 63, who retired from the mill last August, spent the last five years of his career taking care of Wasabi.
He fed him daily, and even built him his own “cubby hole,” made from a letterbox, Duct tape, and a heating pad wired into the mill’s power system.
“He’d huddle up in the little ball there and sleep,” Cole said. “He was well looked after.”
So when he heard the news about the mill’s closure, he knew what he had to do.
“I got a hold of Tawni and I got hold of the guys in the mill right away. I said I wanted him,” Cole said.
When Foster Kritters trapped Wasabi, they reached out to Cole.
“I met Kirsten on the Lake Cowichan Highway and Wasabi was in his little cage there and I sat with her and talked for a while. The cage was beside me, and he huddled right up to my leg. Like, he knew my voice and everything,” Cole said.
“That’s when we decided, well, let’s give this a shot. ”
It’s been going well, he said. Wasabi is getting a slow introduction to his new home, starting in the basement. Cole brought a TV and PlayStation down there so he can spend time with the cat.
He hid away at first, but is becoming braver by the day. Already, Cole says, he’s accepting pets and brushes.
“I’ve read him The Davinci Code,” Cole said with a chuckle. “Yeah, he hasn’t got any clue where the grail is either.”
Crofton Mill employee Tawni Marcil tells The National about the moment she helped save a colony of cats at the site before its closure in Crofton, B.C.
The mill ceased production in early January and will slowly shut down completely over the next few months.
Marcil says she can rest easy knowing the cats will be OK. As for her own prospects, she says she’s not too worried.
“It was a big shock to everybody when it came,” she said. “But, you know, [you] just move on.”
