| Feline
foundlings |
| （Shanghai
Star. 2003-03-27 ） |
|
 |
| Soso
Ma & Simoji |
|
PEOPLE are sometimes slightly startled when little
animals quickly flee past them on residential pathways
late at night. "A cat," they tell
themselves. |
|
Very often, it is a stray cat. These animals search
for food in trash boxes and hide under parked cars for
warmth. It can be an adventurous and exciting life for
the strong and tough cats. For them, the city is a
concrete jungle, and humans can be very dangerous for
them. But some just can't win the battle for survival. |
| On
New Year's Eve, a local woman picked up a
badly-wounded cat and sent it to Guo Qian, who is a
volunteer in a stray cat rescue network. The cat had a
bleeding wound from a burn on its back, older wounds
on the ears, face and legs, and only one claw remained
in each of the front paws. |
| Guo,
nicknamed Soso Ma on the cat salvage network at
www.luckycats.net, had to change her new year
celebration plans and spend hours in the vet clinic.
In the months that followed, she and her colleagues at
the network went back and forth to the clinic. |
| One
operation followed another, combined with vaccinations
and sterilization, until the cat, now named Smoggy,
began recovering well. Smoggy's picture was published
on the website, ready for adoption. |
|
"We read the story about a cat named Smoggy who
survived a fire and named this one after it. We hoped
he could thrive as bravely as Smoggy," Guo said.
"Animals can survive by themselves if no one
hurts them, but people can be cruel." Guo found a
man shooting at cats with an air gun a few days ago. A
Persian cat was shot in the tail and had to have an
operation. |
| ·Port
of distress |
| Guo
has rescued scores of stray cats, most of whom have
successfully found adopters. The network, based in
Beijing, has rescued over 500 cats over the past two
years. Over 100 of these were from Shanghai. |
| The
network has a systematic working procedure. First,
someone picks up a stray cat that needs urgent help -
usually one who is badly-injured, pregnant or too
young to survive on its own, then they send the cats
to clinics for treatment. |
| The
volunteers would supply a temporary foster family for
it, where the cat undergoes vaccination and
sterilization. Then they post the picture and
information about the cat on the website, letting
people adopt it. |
| The
adoption is free of charge, but the website puts some
restrictions on the adopters. The most important
condition is the adopter has to promise never to
abandon the cat. |
|
"It is an unavoidable phenomenon as society
develops," said Dr. Christian Chang of Petshome
Animal Medical Co Ltd. Petshome gives a special
discount for stray cats from Luckycats.net. |
|
"In Taiwan, there are large numbers of stray
dogs, over one million of them in Taipei alone,"
Chang said. He estimated that there are
300,000-400,000 stray cats in Shanghai. |
| The
best solution to this increasing social problem is
birth control, he believed. "Or there will be
more and more of them." In Taiwan, the government
pays half the cost of every dog's sterilization
operation. "Governmental involvement is very
important," he said. "Individuals have very
limited power." |
|
"Luckycats is operating very successfully
now," Chang said. "If they can be even
better organized, with many foster families and
professional medical coordination and better trained
staff, they can move on successfully." |
| ·Foster
families |
| But
there are too few foster families at present, so that
one volunteer often has to take care of many cats.
"There used to be over 20 cats in my
apartment," said Gong Xiaodong, nicknamed
"Don't Ask My Name" on Luckycats.net. Gong
takes care of three cats at the moment. He finds it
difficult to afford the time and money for their
successive sterilizations. "The work flow in
Beijing is better than in Shanghai." |
|
Gong and Guo agreed that adopters can be difficult to
find. Some people love cats but their families don't.
Some fail to give cats proper care or keep them safely
indoors. "I opened the door and Simmy ran
out," one adopter told Guo. |
|
"Why did she open the door since she knew Simmy
might run out?" Guo said. "Later she told me
that her parents didn't want her to keep the cat. She
could have sent Simmy back to me. That is better than
deserting it again." |
|
This is what Luckycats.net hates to see: cats
returning to a life on the streets having been
abandoned in spite of all their hard work. That is why
the staff make specific inquiries about the conditions
of their adoption applicants, about their income,
profession, and family situation. They also pay
regular visits to the adopted cats, to see if they are
settling in well. |
|
Over 20 people are frequently involved in the
Luckycats.net activities in Shanghai, many of them IT
professionals. They share information on the website
about cats. |
| But
not everybody knows how to take care of sick cats. One
of the rescued cats, Xiao An, had an open wound on the
neck, caused by a ribbon tied at childhood by its
previous owner. Its rescuers argued about whether to
stitch the wound. When the surgery was finally carried
out, the foster failed to ensure the cat wore a
protective collar, which would have prevented Xiao An
from tearing the wound open. |
| A
new operation had to be done, and the cat was less
co-operative this time. |
|
"It is important to know what is good for the
animal," Guo said. "Love and responsibility
are two different conceptions." She is
restricting the amount of food for Smoggy because the
vet said that the cat was now over-weight. |
| Guo
knew a retired woman, Luo Shouzhu, who kept over 20
cats. "At first when we told her about
immunization or birth control, she would not
listen," Guo said. "It was only when a
contagious disease broke out and killed several cats
that she realized the importance of these
things." |
|
"The earlier the government is involved the
better," Chang said. "It will help a lot to
promote the image of the municipality. If the number
of stray dogs increases, the problem could get much
more serious." |
