This is a slide show of 9 pictures, five seconds per picture. If you’d like to pause it simply place your cursor over it.
Note: Update: this page was written two years ago. I have re-dated it to bring the article forward to October 9th 2016 because this cat rescue work is still acutely relevant even more so. I have not heard about this guy since. I have searched the internet for an update without success. Aleppo is being destroyed by the Assad regime’s bombs and Russian rockets. Just recently hospitals have been bombed and medical staff killed. Over the past few months hundreds of children have been killed. There is outrage in the West. The UN talks. America complains. Nothing changes.
What are the chances of this guy being alive today? What are the chances of the cats being alive? I would have thought that it was quite likely that they are all dead but we don’t know. It is said that Aleppo will be completely destroyed by Christmas 2016. That may be an exaggeration but….it will be destroyed. This wonderful man might get out and become a refugee but the cats won’t.
[slideshow_deploy id=’76360′]
This is war torn, war weary Aleppo, Syria. We hear of nothing about it but destruction, barrel bombs, atrocities, aggression, suffering and mayhem.
And here is a ambulance driver using his own money to feed 150 street cats. Wow.
I wondered what was happening to the cats of Syria in this ghastly mess of a war. Well, now I know what is happening to at least 150 of them; the lucky ones.
- The place: Masaken Hanano (abandoned area of Aleppo)
- The man: Alaa
- His occupation: ambulance driver
- The cost: $4 daily
What about the cats? Well, as is expected they are dirty and dusty. They don’t look too unhealthy though. There a quite a few van-type patterns and ginger tabby and whites. Bicolors are common too. It looks a fairly typical street cat scene, one you might see warm climate countries such as those surrounding the Mediterranean.
This guy deserves all the praise he can get.
I feel I owe it to my grandparents who helped young Jewish people during ww2 by hiding them from the nazis in their house and risking their lives. I’m very proud of my family and now doing my bit by helping other people. Join our group please xxx
Spread the word please! The power of social media is amazing and we now have people from all over the globe donating, sending messages of support to Alaa and his crew which really keeps them going. Alaa posts pictures and videos daily on our page, he has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace award 2017 x
Hi all! Alaa is still going strong! Currently the cat shelter is under threat though and Alaa and his friends are looking for a safe place to transfer the animals. I’m one of the people helping out, all the help goes through Alessandra Abidin based in Italy and Syria Charity which owns a hospital in Aleppo. Donations help not just the animals but the people as well, children, women, elderly, anyone in need of help. We can and we must help. Thanks guys, Marta Williamson/UK . Search IL GATTARO D’ALEPPO on Facebook or Twitter xxx
What wonderful news and thank you so much for updating us. Fantastic. Thanks Marta.
Ironically, I was recently thinking about this man because I had put a link to his story on my Facebook page. I hadn’t known his name until just now when I read your story about him. I worry for him and these cats. Until this damned war, these cats and he were just living their lives. I hate wars! Pointless!!!
May he be watched over and guarded. May the cats he watches be protected. If it is their destiny to die during this war, then I pray that they go swiftly and with as little pain as possible.
Because we all die, I hope that he and these cats are well rewarded once they get to Heaven. He is truly a Cat Guardian and he deserves recognition for his duty to these cats. Thank you to the person who took those pictures and his story and put them online.
To me, it’s mind boggling to think that without the Internet we’d never know each other here on your site, nor would we know of the plight that this man and these cats are going through.
Prayers that he is okay and that the cats are streetwise enough to survive. I sad that picture with him and them and wished I was a billionaire. I would take him and all of the cats and relocate them to safety. Sickens me to think pets being abandoned and of animals in zoos being abandoned. War is good for nothing!
Er, that was supposed to read that I saw not that I sad the picture of him and the cats!!! Wow, thanks for nothing, autocorrect! 🙂
I have similar feelings about this man and his cats. I hope and pray they survive the war but it seems unlikely as the bombing has intensified over the past months. The whole city is being destroyed. Thanks for visiting.