HAVING SURVIVED BY A WHISKER, STRAY CATS GET A SECOND CHANCE

▶ Daniel Bardsley meets the volunteers sending abandoned animals to new lives overseas

Lucy, an extravagantly beautiful white cat with fluffy fur and almond-coloured eyes, lives a contented life in Hollister, California. She is doted on by her owner, Melissa Casillas, and enjoys eating her favourite food, tuna, twice a day.

“She purrs, she cuddles, she grooms herself,” says Melissa, 42, a director at a community college. “She plays with toy mice. Absolutely a love.”

Turn the clock back less than six months and Lucy’s situation could not have been more different.

Trying to survive on the streets of Sharjah, she was emaciated, had terrible wounds on each side of her neck and filthy, matted fur. You could hardly tell she was a cat.

But there were signs that Lucy had been recently groomed, suggesting that she had been abandoned not long ago.

Fortunately, she was picked up by a kind-hearted rescuer and treated before an owner was found for her in the US, to where she was flown a few months ago.

Kept indoors because of a brainstem injury that affects her co-ordination, she is otherwise healthy and happy.

Many other cats have, like Lucy, found happy homes far from the Middle East. Each month animals are flown to countries including the US, Canada, the UK and Germany.

The number appears to be increasing, with rescuers estimating that hundreds of UAE cats are adopted overseas each year, thanks to groups and people who find homes and arrange transport.

One of the country’s most active cat rescuers is Fawaz Kanaan, 38, an events organiser who lives in Dubai.

Mr Kanaan has been feeding strays for more than 15 years and rescuing them since 2010. Lucy was one of them.

He says many cats adopted overseas have special needs.

“It’s the cats that are really difficult to rehome – the threelegged cats, blind cats, the ones that cannot walk,” Mr Kanaan says. He started a Facebook group, Save Dubai Stray Cats, which now has more than 5,000 members.

Mr Kanaan has also organised the adoption of a dozen cats in Germany, Switzerland, Russia and the Netherlands. He says abandonment was increasing because of economic conditions.

“Many people, if they have three or four cats, they’re just throwing them out,” he says. “It’s still increasing daily.”

“Most of the dumped cats are breeds. Even with the healthy ones, it’s difficult to find homes. Imagine the sick and special-needs ones, it makes it more difficult.

“But many individuals here are doing their best to arrange adoption,” he says.

Cat rescuers would like to see Dubai introduce a trap, neuter and release programme like that in Abu Dhabi.

The number of cats in the UAE capital neutered last year doubled to more than 6,500, but it is estimated that there are about 100,000 stray cats in Abu Dhabi and even more in Dubai.

Rescuers hope that a recent announcement outlawing abandoning animals, with a possible jail term, could reduce the number of cats dumped.

“It’s a step in the right direction and we will have to support this as a community to raise further awareness and educate people,” says Samah El Manzalawy, of Adopt a Friend UAE.

Cat rescuers use different ways to find overseas adopters. Adopt a Friend UAE uses contacts and shares details of animals on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

And when adopters are found, the cost of relocating the animals has to be paid. Sending animals abroad is not cheap.

Pre-departure paperwork – a health certificate, pet passport and vaccinations – can cost as much as Dh3,500.

“It is not easy. People in Europe could adopt a similar cat from a shelter at a much lower cost,” Ms El Manzalawy says.

“Some people are behind the cause and are happy to support and pay the relocation cost and some think it’s a lot.

“If it’s a really great home, we look at ways and means to get it done. A lot of times we do pay the difference.”

Rescuers in the UAE often have to cover part or all of the cost while adhering to the country’s restrictions on fund-raising. Garage sales are one way of doing this.

There are also many overseas residents who organise adoptions in their home countries, typically in co-ordination with rescuers in the UAE.

DXB Desert Rescues in the UK organises the shift of UAE cats to Britain, Europe and North America, as well as the UAE.

Former Abu Dhabi resident Andreas Rosener, 53, an oil and gas engineer, is one of three volunteers who run the Bin Kitty Collective Germany.

Last year they found new homes for more than 130 cats from the UAE and since it was founded about five years ago, the total has been about 450 cats and 20 or so dogs. Most went to Germany, with others going to Austria and Switzerland.

“There’re a lot of cats and not enough people there to adopt a cat,” says Mr Rosener, who has six cats from the UAE.

“Most people like the fluffy ones, the Persians, the beautiful ones. The average Arabian Mau is nothing people find particularly beautiful. It’s your average street cat. In Europe, it’s a special breed.”

The group co-ordinates with rescuers and foster owners in the UAE and Bin Kitty Collective covers much of the transport cost. Each month the group can have cats coming over on half a dozen flights, co-ordinating with “flight buddies” – people taking a particular flight anyway – who assist with transport and handing over the cat to its new owner.

“We have a flood of cats that’s just non-stop,” Mr Rosener says. “In fact, we unfortunately have to decline quite a lot of requests from people who are asking us to help with rehoming because our waiting list is so long.”

We decline quite a lot of requests from people who are asking us to help with rehoming because our waiting list is so long ANDREAS ROSENER Cat rescue volunteer