![\"Evgenyi\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Evgenyi.jpg\")
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Photo by Evgenyi<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m hoping that this will attract a few sports fans, but I\u2019m kidding myself unless they like cats. But we are hoping for a slam dunk to win a pot of money for Stray Cat Alliance<\/a>\u00a0(SCA). SCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Los Angeles whose mission is to empower communities to ensure that every cat is safe, healthy and valued. The organization\u2019s Return-To-Field program at\u00a0Long Beach Animal Care Services\u00a0<\/a>(ACS) has helped save thousands of community cats. They presently have several adoption locations throughout Long Beach, Garden Grove, Signal Hill, Cerritos as well as Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Petplan, the nation\u2019s largest pet-insurance company, is presenting The Spirited 16 rounds of matchups between dogs and cats for its March Madness for Shelter Pets championship. The tourney is set up like any sports competition\u2014don\u2019t take my word for that, because I have really no idea, but it goes like this: There\u2019s a daily matchup in which a couple of shelter or rescue pets engage in a \u201cfriendly competition,\u201d according to\u00a0Petplan\u2019s web page<\/a>, and the pet with the most votes in each pair advances to the next round. Petplan makes a donation to every participating organization and gives additional amounts every time one of them moves up.<\/p>\n SCA\u2019s star tail-switchin\u2019 Momma Marcia is jumping through hoops, often literally, to win for her team. Petplan, said SCA Director of Development Missy Woodward,discovered Momma when the company was sending out scouts for their tournament and selected her to represent SCA. A high-scoring point guard, she\u2019s training hard for the big prize (check her out in the\u00a0video on her fan page<\/a>), and she\u2019s been on the fence\u2014again literally, in her former life\u2014between first and second place. Not one to forget her indigent roots, Momma\u2019s goal\u2014wrong metaphor? wrong sport?\u2014is to win the $5,000, which SCA will use toward its successful\u00a0Operation Kern 100\u00a0<\/a>campaign, in which they\u2019ve pulled 100 cats from the Kern County Shelter and finding foster homes for them in the West Coast states and Arizona. They\u2019re in great need of the prize money for the cats\u2019 medical expenses and transport to foster homes.<\/p>\n Point guard Momma Marcia\u2014check out the Sparks in her eyes. Photo courtesy of SCA.<\/em><\/p>\n And we need the help of our team players\u2014you. It takes less time to do than to run to the kitchen for beer, chips and salsa during a commercial break to\u00a0access the page here<\/a>, find Momma\u2019s photo, and click on it. Her next round begins this evening, March 23, at 9:01PM PST<\/strong>\u00a0(adjust to your own time zone if you live somewhere else besides the coast) and ends Thursday, March 24, at 9:01PM).<\/p>\n Momma Marcia was picked up from the street by the Long Beach SCA chapter volunteers, near the borderline of Wilmington and Long Beach. She was a single mom with four newborn kittens, and she was starving. They were all brought to safety. As the kittens were adopted or fostered, Momma Marcia was placed in a foster home.<\/p>\n \u201cShe had an unfortunate accidental escape and came back later that day with major injuries,\u201d Woodward said. \u201cVeterinarians assumed she’d been kicked. She had major surgery to repair her internal organs. She’s been resting comfortably and now is thriving post-surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n Her injuries aren\u2019t keeping her out of the court, and she means to win. When asked what her post-game ambitions are, she twitched an ear, yawned, and said that she\u2019s forgoing cat food endorsements and would rather to live out her years in the home she\u2019s always wanted. If you want to rub elbows, ears, chins and noses with a real star, email anna@straycatalliance.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vote for Momma Marcia\u00a0<\/i><\/a>starting tonight at 9:01PM.<\/i><\/p>\n SCA is in great need of donations for the medical care of the Kern 100 and the effort to find foster homes for them. Click the donation button on\u00a0the organization\u2019s home page\u00a0<\/i> <\/a>to participate.<\/i><\/p>\n “The cat has too much spirit to have no heart.”![\"Momma](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Momma-Marcia.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"Tournament](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Tournament-of-Tails.jpg\")
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<\/i>~ Ernest Menault, French Zoologist and author of <\/i>L\u2019intelligence des animaux (The intelligence of animals)\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"