How a Tiny Stray Kitten Inspired a Compassionate Alabama Man to Rescue Stray Cats and Dogs

While leaving his important, yet unfulfilling job in November of 2015, Calvin Tucker came across a tiny, gray kitten sitting next to the tire of his car. Tucker didn’t really like cats and had even ended relationships because of cats, yet this little kitten, whom he named Henry, touched his heart so much that Calvin began feeding him.

Then there was that eventful November day, when everything changed. All because of Henry. A little gray kitten sitting next to his car tire in the parking lot as Calvin left work. … In those “before” days, he had a good job working with special-needs children. It was important work, and he loved the kids, but something was missing.

After that day, Tucker realized what he needed to do to help his Alabama community and feel fulfillment within himself. Being that there was no animal control in his small town, Tucker began feeding all the stray cats around town. He also began feeding stray dogs. Tucker eventually took Henry home in January 2016 and then the real work began.

On January 10, 2016, Henry moved out of the parking lot and in with Calvin. Henry would be the first, the most important, but nowhere near the last. The long recurring day was over, the void filled. There was work to be done. Cat colonies to be fed and spayed and neutered. Injured dogs to be captured, healed, and sent to loving homes. It consumed him.

After a video of Tucker’s work went viral, funds were raised to help him start his own animal rescue non-profit and in 2020 Tucker started SOCAT (Saving One Creature At a Time). In the more than five years of existence, Tucker, who became known as Black Noah, has rescued hundreds of animals from street life.

He names every animal and remembers every name. You can hear the pride in his voice when he talks about their new human companions, their new lives, how happy they are now. He has rescued an emu, a tarantula. If a creature needs help, he’ll help it. Since that day when Henry and Calvin met in a parking lot, Calvin Tucker has rescued and rehomed 149 cats and 53 dogs. Every day, he feeds and cares for about a hundred strays on the street in addition to responding to calls and other animals he comes across. More than two hundred lives saved so far. And counting.