This is an unusual and annoying cat rescue story. You read about it sometimes: people living in Europe rescuing cats from far off places and shipping them home at great expense and trouble (for cat and person). They usually have happy endings and I admire the rescuers.
This won’t be the first time a cat has been rescued in Egypt and shipped back to Europe. In this case a cat named Sam was rescued and shipped to London by Anubis Bastet Adoptions for Egyptian Animals (ABA).
Jill Adams spotted Sam and another Cairo rescue cat, Harry. She fell in love and adopted them. She had to ship them from London to her home near Belfast, Norther Ireland. This was arduous. A volunteer transported the cats from London to Glasgow. Then a bus driver allowed Jill and her cats to travel together to the docks and then onto a boat to Northern Ireland. There must have been a long quarantine period in the process too. This is tough for cats.
The new cats, Sam and Harry, took a while to settle into their new home in Lisburn as there were two resident cats. After around three weeks Sam went missing. He was probably an indoor/outdoor cat. Was he kept in and escaped or allowed free access to the outside?
I’d expect almost all domestic cats in Northern Ireland to be free-roamers. Well, he’s been missing for five weeks. This is a long time and Jill is desperate, of course, to have closure on Sam. Is he alive or dead?
It is ironic and very sad that a cat rescued from a poor part of Cairo with the express purpose of improving his life in the West ends up lost in Northern Ireland. I don’t want to sound too critical but this is not a good outcome. It is a failure. I’d have thought such a cat transported at such a cost to charity donors would be keep inside and in a large garden enclosure or catio of some sort. But not to let him roam freely especially in an area where the police are investigating the loss of 70 cats! Yes, something is going on in that region and it’s probably gangs stealing cats for the fur trade or something horrible like that. How often have I read about cats going missing en masse on the streets in the UK? A lot.
I don’t know if Jill was aware of the loss of 70 cats from the Newry area, which is 34 miles from Belfast. Anyway as far as I am concerned it is too dangerous to let cats wander outside especially if they are from Cairo and have been transported to Northern Ireland at great expense and effort.
It is a rough old do for cats in any part of Ireland, north or south. They are often targeted or just neglected & hated.
Today on the beach, I got talking with an older couple with an elderly GSD, she was ten, riddled with bad arthritis, they ‘rescued’ her from Spain a couple of years ago, she had bad arthritis even then. It was very warm today, this poor old dog was lying down in a sand puddle of sea water to cool down (very thick coat) and I would guess get some cooling relief for her pain.
I could not help wondering how she coped with the overland drive, then ferry to the UK. The heat, the hell of long journeys, the pain.
The beach is full of dogs, some stray, adopt and rescue locally!
….said the woman who once stayed an extra 4 weeks in Greece to rehome a stray Mummy cat and 3 x 8 week old kittens with someone who would really care for them properly. More than once I attempted to arrange travel back here, when it seemed hopeless. I am glad I didn’t achieve that as in theory, that would have left 4 possible homes for cats in need in the UK.
I to have mixed feelings about such distant transports at such great expense. All that money could help so many local cats. However, I’m glad the cats found a new home. I am praying that the kitty is found safe. 😢