Max lounges in the shade by a few silver food bowls at the entrance of USF’s Botanical Gardens. He’s a light orange white cat, occasionally sprinkled with dirt and looking as unamused as a cat could. 

The gardens’ lead curator, Craig Huegel, doesn’t know Max’s breed or age. He was just here when Huegel took the job two years ago. 

“I don’t have a cat and never have,” Huegel said. “I don’t like cats.”

USF’s Botanical Gardens employees, like Huegel, are not obligated to feed the three feral cats that roam the gardens, but the students from USF’s Botanical Gardens club have made it their responsibility. 

When Carolina Gutfreund, the club’s president, returned to school this fall, they were running low on food for the cats. By September, there was a “big rush” to start a food drive for the cats, she said.

Since the club cannot collect monetary donations, Gutfreund took to her personal social media to raise money. Within five hours, she raised $65, enough to buy 36 pounds of cat food, she said. By the end of the drive, the club had collected over 75 pounds.

Gutfreund estimated the three cats go through a little less than a pound of food a day. With the donations, she said she thinks they have enough to get through the fall semester.

Gutfreund and secretary Abeja Castro both donated three pounds of food during the first day of the drive on Sept. 17. Castro donated an additional 30 pounds to tide them over.

If they hadn’t gotten enough food, the answer would be “rehoming the cats or removing them from the property,” Gutfreund said.

While they’re all feral cats, they’ve been fed at the Botanical Gardens for so long that they are dependent on people, former staff assistant Angelika Hart said.

“I feel like they’re as much part of the garden as any of the plants,” she said.

She said Max showed up as a kitten around 2014, when the previous cat that lived at the gardens had died. She said she thinks he’s a flame point cat since he was white when he was younger and aged into his golden color.

Related: Garden keepers with nine lives – The Oracle 

The other two cats – Magic and Bat – aren’t nearly as friendly. But Max is the one people come to the gardens to see, Huegel said.

“Max is kind of our mascot,” Huegel said. “…So, Max is cool.”

Max won’t hype up a crowd like Rocky the Bull. But, he will occasionally come when visitors snap their fingers towards him. 

“Max is different because he was here young and he likes people and he’s used to people,” Huegel said.

Max will follow Huegel around the gardens, walking behind him and pausing when he does. 

Other times he’ll pass by guests and take a shady spot near the office – and the bowls of food. 

Gutfreund said the club is always accepting cat food donations, but they are planning to host additional drives in the spring to continue to support the cats.

Huegel said he wouldn’t want cats at the gardens if they weren’t here but he won’t stop them from roaming the 16-acres. 

Related: OPINION: More students should use the USF Botanical Gardens 

Max, Magic and Bat don’t mess up the gardens, Huegel said, but he has come in to work to see some potted plants knocked over or a pile of feathers he expects was a bird that became dinner. 

“They don’t hurt the Botanical Gardens but they have an impact, like they would anywhere,” Huegel said.

While Max has not won Huegel’s heart yet, he has won Gutfreund’s. 

She said she was not a “cat-person” until she got to USF, but Max, Magic and Bat changed that.

“Max is the sweetest cat I’ve ever met,” she said. “He’s very friendly…I’ve always loved animals, but now I would say I am a cat person.”