Pakistani lady feeding feral cats is hated by the educated and praised by the uneducated
‘It’s mostly the uneducated that praise me but all the educated people hate me.’ – says Karachi’s cat woman who has been feeding homeless, hungry kittens and cats, daily, for 17 years.
Karachi cat lady feeds feral cats daily and has done for 17 years.
On the one occasion she was too ill to feed them she made arrangements for someone else to do it. She says that if she does not feed them every day they go hungry. She obviously can’t stand the thought of it.
The cats wait patiently for the evening meal.
Karachi’s cat lady lives in Gulshan. She feeds the cats right after prayers which take place just after sunset (maghrib). She feeds them with raw meat. She carries five bags of raw meat from her house. And across the street the colony of cats gather, waiting patiently to be fed. It is interesting that they all eat raw meat. I’d say that, on balance, this a good diet.
Feeding voraciously on raw meat.
I don’t know her name. It is said she prefers cats to children. She won’t be the first person to feel like that. She started feeding one cat under a tree near to where she lives and quite naturally it quickly grew from that innocent start.
She’s is an old lady and tired. She wants someone to take over. She can’t allow herself to stop if there is no one to take her place.
For me an interesting aspect of her voluntary work is the reaction of those who know of her and which I have referred to in the opening lines of this post.
Sweet kitten who looks a little unwell to me.
The educated and better off don’t want her around. They probably think of feral cats as spreading disease and spoiling the amenity of the neighbourhood. They lack empathy for the cats’ plight and think the lady’s work encourages their presence.
The uneducated, she says, often praise her. They too have felt the difficulties in what I would judge to be a hard life and therefore can empathise with the cats. They understand her desire to help.
The uneducated are the more humane. They are the more educated perhaps in terms of emotional development. The more wealthy inhabitants probably have limited aspirations: make money and keep the poor down and out of sight.
i love my kitty, Lex, very much so a part of me applauds her trying to help how she can, but there should be a better way for her & them. i mean, the people that have issues with all those cats being in the streets potentially causing accidents, etc DO have a valid point so lets not villify them for raising issues that SHOULD be addressed. i personally i think there SHOULD be some sort of animal shelter that these cats could be taken to so they could get adopted or something. her just feeding them out in the open every night & then leaving them to continue to fend for themselves doesnt seem like the safest thing for THEM in the long run nor HER feeling she must spend her money on ALL of those cats when she needs to take care of herself too(healthy caregiver healthy cat). additionally, i dont think its wise to train them to think EVERY person will feed them, cuz then that CAN become a problem like the squirrels at the local college. those squirrels will come right up to you & take your,or your childs, french fries, etc as a result of so many people tossing them food on a regular basis(its also unhealthy for the squirrels as hamburgers SHOULD NOT be a part of their diet). there should be a way for them to get adopted or something. at least that way they will have someone that will be responsible for them, individually or in small groups, to keep them SAFE as well as fed. cuz feeding is only a small part of caring for an animal, their safety should ALWAYS be paramount. i can also see why some would view what shes doing as a nuisance though. lets be honest, a ton of cats out in the open like that, right near a roadway, is a recipe for disaster for those poor cats. i have seen way too many dead animals, especially cats/kittens, on the roadways near my home as it is to NOT look at the pic of all those cats near a street & not see this as a recipe for disaster. thats NOT me “bad mouthing” her or “downing” her efforts to help them, its just me being realistic about her needs, & the needs those cats. i guess its the whole ‘feed for a day…’ thing: you can feed them daily, have them remain dependent on you, & leave them in harms way, OR you can try to have them adopted, so they ALL have a home they can go to to, get fed, & stay off the street so they stay out of harms way on a more permanent basis.
Gotta Love her and help with the cats too !
I would help if I lived in that country. Eva say’s
Great job great lady.