Grunendike honored for corralling cats

The cat’s out of the bag. 

Mayor Tana Nichols surprised Terri Grunendike by publicly honoring her with a Certificate of Appreciation at the Hill City Common Council meeting Aug. 26. 

Grunendike is a longtime resident of Hill City, kitchen manager and cook at Lemongrass and the local cat lady. 

“Although sometimes this is a controversial subject, Terri Grunendike has homed and fed over 500 feral cats in our community over the last 15 years,” said Nichols. 

Grunendike gets a discount to help from West River Spay and Neuter Coalition. Through their efforts, these animals get rabies shots, are spayed and neutered and over 400 have been re-homed. 

“Once in the morning and once at night, she mixes up huge bowls of food and takes them to the various cat colonies around town. I went with her one night. It’s fun to watch all these cats. As she pulls up, they just gather to her car,” said Nichols. 

Grunendike then waits until the cats have had their fill before letting the deer eat any leftovers. 

“She feeds and watches over these cats at her own expense, and she’s done this for the past 15 years,” said Nichols. 

To Grunendike, Nichols said, “I’m proud to present you with a certificate for your large heart and goodwill in taking care of the animals that were neglected and abandoned. You’re a special person, and Hill City is blessed to have your vigilance and your wonderful heart.” 

Grunendike said it all started when she tried to help one cat. Now she helps hundreds. As soon as she gets one colony under control, Grunendike finds another group in another area of town.

“We have a huge, huge cat problem here, and it’s the people. It’s never going to go away,” said Grunendike. “People aren’t spaying. They have their cats outside. They have kittens. Then, they start having kittens.”

So with the help of six different veterinarians around the area, Grunendike gets cats fixed, obtains vouchers for people who cannot afford it and says she has probably prevented a couple thousand cats from being born over the years. All the kittens go to rescues, and she also helps the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office with their local cat calls. 

“I have lots of foster homes for these cats, people that help me, but the problem is I could knock out a good 50 in the winter months but I don’t have anywhere for them to recover,” said Grunendike.

As a result, Grunendike needs a shelter to serve as a recovery station for up to seven days for female cats recently spayed so they don’t get hurt. 

“We encourage anybody who wants to have a pet, take care of them. Get them spayed or neutered,” said Nichols. “This overpopulation is not going to get better, and without people like Terri, it would be much worse.” 

Jim Peterson said the other problem is the feral cats attract mountain lions. About a month ago, he spotted a mountain lion on camera with a cat in its mouth. 

“There are a lot of areas that still need to be worked, and I can get it done. It’s not my job or my full-time thing. I’m just trying to help a problem,” said Grunendike. “I’m always willing to help, but if you knew of anyone that just has a space where they could recover, I could flip them.”

Peterson asked if there was a city property that could work, and Nichols said they would look into it. 

Awesome,” Grunendike said in response. “’Cause it is for the community, and I have prevented a lot of rabies. I can tell you that because I’ve vaccinated over 500.”

If anyone would like to help Grunendike’s efforts with donations, foster homes or a recovery space, Nichols said to reach out to herself or Grunendike.