‘Kitty whisperer’ killed on Cherry Hill road trying to save cat

CHERRY HILL — A woman who made a career out of her love for animals died trying to help one of them, according to the rescue organization she worked for.

Township police and county prosecutors say Kaitlyn O'Hara, 27, of Medford, was trying to move an injured animal on Route 70 when she was struck by a car.

The 24-year-old driver from Voorhees stayed at the scene and has not been charged with a crime.

O'Hara had been trying for two days after a snowstorm to catch a feral cat she thought was bleeding, according to a post on the Randalls Rescue Facebook page.

O'Hara was considered the "kitty whisperer" because of her ability to connect with the "shy, timid and feral" cats that no one else would care for.

"Kaitlyn was one of the most kind, compassionate, quirky, fun loving, humorously neurotic, sweetest girls I’ve ever met. She had so much life to live," the Mount Laurel shelter said.

The shelter has created the Kaitlyn O'Hara Fund to help sick and feral cats.

"We are all devastated but I know she would want us to continue saving more 'mittens' as it’s what she’s dedicated her life to," the shelter wrote.

O'Hara worked as at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ryan Veterinary Hospital as a veterinary nurse in the anesthesia department, according to her obituary, and was an animal science graduate from Delaware Valley University. She was engaged.

Her funeral is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Bradley & Stow Funeral Home on Mount Holly Road in Medford following a viewing that starts at noon.

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Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ