From the outside Polish firefighters rescue a cat stuck in a window on the 7th floor

Polish firefighters rescue a cat stuck in window on 7th floor of an apartment block from the outside of the building which is very unusual. Some fighters don't do this as it is expensive and for some administrations a waste of public funds.

The rescue looks tricky. I have estimated that it is the 7th floor. I don't see a cat carrier on the cherry picker. And we don't know why the cat needed rescuing except to guess that the owner was away and the cat somehow became trapped in the window. He/she was released with the help of a metal bar.

My guess is that the window opens by rocking around a central axis and the cat walked on the window to get out because the owner was away for a long time. The window rocked on its axis and trapped the cat between the window and the frame. The cat then cried out and the fire service was called by a neighbour in the block. Just guessing and speculating.

Polish firefighters rescue a cat!Thank you heroes!👨🏻‍🚒🧡 pic.twitter.com/O27lD5AYAX

— No Cats No Life (@NoCatsNoLife_m) September 12, 2024

Separately, there is currently severe flooding in parts of Poland so there will be many pets who need rescuing and who have been rescued and probably some who've died. Let's think of them and wish them the best of luck.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

British rescuer of animals and humans shot in the head in Ukraine

A BBC2 documentary has been made about Chris Parry and it's called Hell Jumper. That's because what he did was like jumping into hell. And what he did was save the lives of people and their pets in the east of Ukraine where the Russians, as you probably know, have decimated towns and cities and razed them to the ground with incessant bombing and shelling.

Chris Parry. Image: believed Chris Parry's estate via the BBC.

Our rescue worker son always stood up to bullies like Putin. We won't forget his sacrifice. - His parents.

Chris Parry was a British volunteer. He simply was in Ukraine to help. He had a strong sense of injustice. He wanted to do something. He had no military training. He went to Ukraine eight days after the Russians invaded the country in February 2022.

He didn't tell his parents but he told his sister, Katy. She was very frightened for him. She thought that he was dramatizing the rescues that he got involved in but then learned that it was the truth.

Chris begged her not to tell mum and dad. On one occasion Chris Parry texted back that he was buzzing. He said that he had "rescued 11 people, two dogs and a budgerigar". That was in communication with his father Rob.

It's believed that he was executed by a shot to the head by the Russian Mafia group called Wagner Group.

The Sunday Times reports that Chris went missing after he had told Rob that he was buzzing about rescuing dogs and people. He was with another evacuated, Andrew Bagshaw, 48, at the time.

Their car was found abandoned. Katy was contacted, remarkably, by Russians on social media who were rubbing their hands in delight at having killed Chris. Or one of their colleagues had killed Chris.

Katy said "They sent photos of dead bodies saying, We've got your brother, he's got what he deserved."

Two weeks later, Rob received a call from Devon and Cornwall police. Rob said that they 'cried like babies'. Chris's body was returned in a prisoner swap. His clothes had been changed and his body washed. The Russians said that there had been killed in artillery fire but this was untrue. Rob says it was an execution because of the gunshot wound placement.

A coroner ruled that his killing was unlawful. His parents instinctively felt that it wasn't just another random killing. They believe, as mentioned that it was an execution. The family hope that the documentary will help highlight the plight of Ukrainians in this horrible war.

"The world has to wake up and realise that Putin is a bully and if he's not stopped, then it's not going to affect just Ukraine." The words of Christine, Chris's mother.

Rob said that, "We will do whatever we can to keep Chris's name alive and Ukraine in people's minds."

P.S. Chris had fallen love with a Ukrainian lady: Olha Volodymrivna Khomenko. They lived together. They had planned a future together. RIP Chris. A brave guy. He saved more than 400 Ukrainians. And let's remember Andrew Bagshaw too.

Hell Jumper will air on BBC2 this Wednesday at 9 pm.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Purebred stray Burmese cat trapped in St Paul's Cathedral

This is a rather strange story because we are told that the Burmese cat that fell 15 feet down a shaft in the basement of St Paul's Cathedral was sold (apparently) by a breeder and she is also micro-chipped.

The RSPCA rescued the cat. They named her Paula after St Paul's Cathedral which I think is a nice idea.

Purebred stray Burmese cat trapped in St Paul's Cathedral. Name Pauls after St Paul's. Image: RSPCA.

A teenager in the Cathedral yard raised the alarm after seeing Paula vanish under a slab. The teenager was playing in the churchyard after school. She saw Paula run off. The teenager became upset but she was able to give the RSPCA a geotrack location which helped the RSPCA officer to pinpoint the cat's position. Well done to this teenager.

The officer spoke to the Cathedral's security about gaining access and discovered that it is an old storage basement that apparently no one had used a key to get down to for 25 years.

She walked down a steep and narrow staircase into complete darkness before discovering a chamber which led to several corridors and found the cat hiding, covered in fleas. Clearly Paula had been a stray for some time.

It is fortunate that she fell onto a bed of leaves which broke her fall and she was pretty well okay except for a slight graze on her chin and in desperate need of flea treatment; indicative of the fact that she had been astray for some time. Although she doesn't look as if she was starving.

The RSPCA contacted Paula's registered owner as per the microchip details and discovered that the cat had been sold four years before. It appears that the microchip relates to a cat breeder and that the purchaser of the cat did not change the microchip details.

Therefore the RSPCA don't know the current owner if one could argue that Paula still has an owner because she's been astray for a long time and it appears lost or abandoned.

The RSPCA have put posters around St Paul's Cathedral in in the hope of finding her owner. Paula was treated at RSPCA Finsbury Park Animal Hospital before being moved to the RSPCA Laybourne Animal Centre near West Malling in Kent.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Risking your life to save animals is one of the most heroic things you can do. Examples.

The title is so true and there are many saintly people who do it. They are still very rare individuals. They are the kind of people who raise my spirits and make me believe that there is hope for us all. Sometimes though I am pessimistic about things including what I see as a breakdown in societal norms.

This video below, which is embedded here (and may therefore one day stop working), starts off with an animal with which I am very familiar; the kitten. A little ginger tabby kitten and therefore male was sat in the middle of road with fast moving traffic. How the hell did he get there? There is only one plausible answer: he was chucked away from a car. 

A lot of people throw their kittens away on the road which achieves the opposite for me in terms of my morale and feelings about humanity.

Anyway the man in the video spotted the kitten and stopped about 100 years beyond him. He raced back endangering himself and his car. He took a risk in doing it and saved the kitten's life I'd say as this kitten was bang in the middle of the highway. He was about to be hit.

I think the man who rescued him drove over the kitten but his tires missed him.

This effort is followed by some others, equally impressive.

The police officer puts a seat belt around the deer that he rescued from beside the road. The deer must have been hit and we have no idea if it made it. It does not look hopeful in the video which is all the more reason to praise the officer for trying. The brilliance of true animal rescue: giving without obvious reward. There is a reward though: the satisfaction that you did the right thing. Good for one's self-esteem that is.

@bicharada34 #animaisselvagens #animals #animais #animaisnotiktok #salvandoanimales #animaisfofinhos #vidaselvagem #foryou ♬ som original - bicharada

This is why cat adopters should always adopt from a rescue center and not purchase from a breeder. In doing that they are playing their part in cat rescue; saving lives. There is an instant boost to the bond between cat and person under these circumstances.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Digging out a young cat from a bombed out building in Gaza

This video is both amazing and incredibly sad at the same time. The young cat's cries are heartbreaking. It's nice to see this Gazan man digging out a young red-and-white bicolour random-bred cat from an entirely bombed out building in Gaza. His head just protruding through the rubble. It is horrible to see.

It must have been one of those buildings that was shelled or bombed by the Israelis. We don't know how many people were killed in the building if any at all. All we know is that this cat survived and was uncovered and rescued by this unknown man.

If you watch it to the end, you will see what I believe to be the kitten's mother chasing after her offspring as she/he races away from his rescuer.

My next thought is this: what will happen next to this cat? Life will be incredibly hard. When will the next bomb strike? Will he or she survive much longer?

RELATED: What do cat lovers think about the Gaza vs Israel conflict? This was published in 2014 during a previous Gaza war!

In a normal situation, the rescuer would have placed the cat in a carrier and taken the carrier to a veterinarian for a checkup. And then taken the cat to rescue center. Or adopted the cat or rehomed the cat. Something like that but on this occasion the cat just runs off to face the incredible uncertainties of the near future in Gaza.

Like I said it's amazing and great to see because the man rescued and saved the life of this young cat but it is probable that he does not have much of a life left which is very depressing.

RELATED: Banksy, the graffiti artist, highlights destruction of Gaza with a kitten.

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Note: please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Saving a young cat from a bombed building in Gaza during the 2023 war

Woman ran Chicago marathon (3:31) and rescued and rehomed a kitten at the same time!

This is a great little story on Facebook. A Boston resident, Sarah Bohan, was a participant in Chicago's marathon. She was running the charity for PAWS Chicago. This is one of the largest no-kill animal welfare organisations in America. There were 482 runners on the team running for PAWS. A wonderful effort.

Sarah Bohan rescues stray kitten during Chicago marathon. Image: FB.

That would have been great by itself but Sarah went a lot further. She was on a personal best time when she noticed a scared and dirty kitten under a bridge at the 21-mile mark. She was not that far from the finish line really.

This is what she said.

"I saw this white fluffy thing scurrying under a bridge and recognized it as a dirty, scared cat that was obviously a stray separated from its mother. At that point, my personal record was out the window and I knew what I had to do."

She rescued the kitten and then walked for about a mile asking spectators if they would take the kitten that she'd rescued and rehome her. She found a woman who is a cat caregiver who promised her that she would rehome the kitten. Or perhaps she's taken the kitten in. The picture above shows the moment of handover.

Then Sarah continued her race and finished in an impressive 3:31:35, which is a good time.

Sarah did an amazing job. The only question I have is that we have to hope that the woman who took the kitten is the right one meaning she is genuine and will do a good job in either looking after the kitten or rehoming her. She looks genuine to me. Well done, Sarah.

The kitten has a Turkish Van coat for anyone who's interested. A very Mediterranean appearance.

Here is the Facebook post:

Teenage girl killed on motorway trying to rescue a cat in Brazil

Jaciannny Maria da Silva. Image: Mirror.co.uk.

A 17-year-old girl, Jaciannny Maria da Silva, tried to rescue a cat lying on the BR-423 highway, in Jupi, north-eastern Brazil and was hit by a car and killed. The story continues below the map showing the location of this motorway.

The girl was waiting for a school bus last Monday morning. Her name was Jaciannny Maria da Silva. News media tells me that the cat was lying on the road which is a motorway. That would imply that the cat had already been hit by the way but I don't know. The girl decided to go onto the motorway to remove the cat from it. As she crossed the road, she was hit by a Fiat Argo. I don't know the make and model. She was taken to a hospital suffering from multiple traumatic injuries and died shortly afterwards. The cat driver was breathalysed and passed the test.

Of course, the family are devastated. Her schools said in a statement: "it is with deep sorrow that we mourn the loss of our dear student Jacianny Maria da Silva, who passed away this morning, leaving a huge void in our hearts. Our sincere condolences to her family and friends during this difficult time. May they find comfort in the memories and the love she left as a legacy."

Jupi Municipality said: "We deeply regret the passing of Jacianny Maria da Silva, a victim of a tragic accident that occurred this Monday morning, 9 October 2023. The Municipality of Jupi, through Mayor Ant nio Marcos Patriota, expresses solidarity with her entire family and we ask the merciful God to welcome Jacianny into the eternal abode."

RELATED: Thankful kitten rescued from highway by police officer sets off siren on way to station (video).

Comment: I have read of people going onto the motorway before in America to rescue kittens which begs the question by the way how the kitten got onto the motorway in the first place. It is probably because somebody threw the kitten out of a car window as they drove down the motorway.

Professional rescuers can rescue cats and kittens from motorways because they are aware of the dangers. But I guess sometimes people misjudge the speed of the cars and they are so desperate to get the cat that they become careless.

I can recall another instance of a couple rescuing a cat when they were both hit and killed. That occurred in America as I recall.

I don't have a photo of the girl

When you rescue a shelter cat you save two lives

This is a very sweet, cat loving couple in America who have a wonderful relationship with domestic cats. That message comes across loud and clear in the video at the end of this article. Note: sometimes these sorts of embedded videos from news media website stop working. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

When you rescue a shelter cat you save two lives. Screenshot.

They've adopted all their cats from shelters and have seven. The lady says that rescue cats are begging to be loved and they will give love if given a chance. 

And she made a nice point about adopting a rescue cat at a shelter. She said that when you do that you of course, save the life of the cat that you have adopted because there is a chance that they might be euthanised if they stay at that shelter for too long because nobody wants them; and secondly, you potentially save the life of another rescue cat because you make room for the cat at the shelter. 

Often shelters are quite full and sometimes full to capacity so in adopting one cat you open up one space for a new rescue cat to be brought into the shelter.

I think that is a very nice way to explain one of the advantages of adopting a shelter. And the husband in this charming relationship says that if you visit a shelter and you meet the cats it's like meeting people. You will meet a cat or cats where there is some chemistry between you.

I am sure that there are many millions of people who don't believe that a human can have a relationship with a cat which contains that magic chemistry but I believe it can happen and you can make it happen at a shelter because you can meet a lot of cat sometimes.

Arguably, there is a much better chance of meeting a cat with that chemistry at an animal shelter than there is at a cat breeder selling a purebred cat. Cat breeders might have four kittens for sale or less. And kittens don't really have a formed character when they were young.

But if you meet a mature cat that has for some unfortunate reason found themselves at a shelter, they will have a character and this allows a connection to be made based upon your character and there's.

It's notable, by the way, that this couple have adopted black cats. That is unusual as well because typically, as you know I am sure, people tend to reject black cats at shelters and prefer to adopt kittens with a more interesting coat type.

Adopting a black cat from a shelter is a sure sign that the person is a true, died in the wool, cat lover. Both these people are. There is no question about it.

Video

Cat rescuer in Vietnam is exceptional

Using Bing, if you search for 'domestic cats Vietnam' you get reams of pages on cat meat all on the first page of search results. It is remarkable and horrible but I am pleased as it puts more pressure on the Vietnamese government to ban the cat meat trade. 

There are pages on how the Vietnamese kill and eat people's pets and stray cats. It is utterly uncivilised and the Vietnamese government know it.

BUT there are some rays of sunshine in Vietnam in the world of cats as there are bound to be because there are many Vietnamese citizens who love cats and care for them to a high standard. 

One of those people is Nguyễn Thúy Hải, nicknamed 'Cat Woman', who has found happiness in her life alongside the cats she cares for as if they were her own children.

The caption to the video below is:

Meet Hanoi’s catwoman! Nguyễn Thúy Hải is a true hero to abandoned felines. She has rescued and found homes for hundreds of abandoned cats over more than 24 years. Now she is busy taking care of 29 cats at her small apartment and continuing her mission to save pets each and every day.

It is remarkable that she operates her cat rescue from a small apartment. She needs help and proper facilities. Can someone help her, please!?

Here is a video about her and her cat rescue:

However, it is sad to report that although the video was uploaded to YouTube in March 2023, it has only been seen a measly 279 times. People are not interested in this video and yet it is important.

She's rescuing cats in a country where they eat domestic and stray cats. She goes against the grain. She is doing something which is probably quite rare in Vietnam. She takes an enlightened viewpoint and one governed by animal welfare which on both counts is the opposite to those who eat cat meat in Vietnam.

The cat meat eaters of Vietnam are unenlightened as they superstitiously and unthinkingly rely on a centuries old culture to believe that cat meat is a medicine and that it will improve their health.

RELATED: Older generation in Vietnam FALSELY believe that eating cat and dog meat has SPECIAL health benefits.

It's superstitious nonsense. Cat meat is no different to any other meat. It is the flesh of an animal. This woman appears to have seen through the distortions to rational thinking that Vietnamese culture forces on its citizens and decided that the vulnerable strays need rescuing and saving.

I wish there were more like her. She deserves praise. She deserves to be put on a pedestal. Perhaps if that happened some cat meat eaters would change their mind about the medicinal benefits of feline flesh.

She made this comment about the Vietnamese cat owning mentality:

If a cat is beautiful, clean and healthy, no one will let it down. People only abandon it when it's sick and almost impossible to live with. They don't want to waste their time and money, so they just abandon them.

What does that tell you? A completely incorrect attitude to cat caregiving. Utterly incorrect. The relationship between cat and caregiver is for the life of the cat. End of.

Cat adopts an American volunteer for K9 Rescue International in Ukraine where things are getting better

NEWS AND VIEWS - UKRAINE: This is a nice letter from an American man, Tom Bates, who has been in Ukraine since March 2022, volunteering his services for K9 Rescue International. His letter is published on the Key Peninsula News website. He's been rescuing and evacuating animals; bringing food to hungry animals and travelling through many zones of conflict dodging Russian rockets and artillery fire. 

MacDonald's to reopen some restaurants in Ukraine. Image: Shutterstock.

When he first arrived in Ukraine things were bad, he says. It was grim and he still can't speak decent Ukrainian which doesn't surprise me because it takes a long time to learn a foreign language.

But some good things have happened. Firstly, a cat adopted him he says. He named the cat Bob. And he says that when he returns home to America, he is bringing Bob with him. I like that. He's rescued a cat in need in a war zone and he is going to give the cat a good life in a good country. That is about as good as you can do in terms of animal welfare as an individual person doing their bit.

The second bit of good news is this: things are beginning to get back to normal despite the war continuing. I guess this is the case because the war is confined more and more to eastern Ukraine and in the south. The other areas, thankfully - and I hope this continues - are fairly normal such as life in the capital Kyiv. Although Putin has hinted that he might try and take Kyiv a second time. Although that would be a new mobilisation which would be incredibly unpopular and it might fail bearing in mind that around 300,000 men left the country last time they were mobilised.

Another good sign that things are returning to normal and I hope it stays that way (there is no certainty) is that McDonald's restaurants are beginning to reopen across Ukraine.

When the war started, MacDonald closed every restaurant in Ukraine and donated all their food to the military. They continue to pay all employees their full wage. Pretty amazing. But now the stores are opening again of course the employees can come back and the general public are very thankful because Bates says that "Cars wrap around several blocks for the drive through. Lines of people flow out the doors for 100 yards. Every table is full."

Ukrainians have missed their McDonald's. Car dealerships have cars on show and some checkpoints have been dismantled. People are smiling more and of course the warm weather helps.

This is just a little glimpse of life from the point of view of a volunteer helping out with animal welfare in a country ravaged by death and destruction to both animal and person. But as mentioned it is focused on certain areas so the mood has lifted.

It is said that it will cost around $500 billion to rebuild the country. As I understand it, the West has frozen almost $400 billions of Russian assets which can be used.

Mama cat and litter of kittens rescued from a trash-bound couch just in the nick of time

Another good ending for a mom and her kittens thanks to some sensible people and rescuers. I feel that this video is as much about the volunteers who rescue cats, and the sensible people who are sensitive to the sentience of stray cats. 

Without these people this sofa would have been thrown onto a lorry and the kittens inside could have been killed. 

It does not surprise me that they made their home in this sofa that was outside a house in preparation for picking up by I presume a contractor to be thrown away on a council dump. 

It's an ideal little home for a stray cat. An ideal den for a mother cat looking for somewhere safe. Somewhere which provides protection against the weather.

Perhaps there is a lesson as well that sofas left outside a home should be checked briefly for cats! It's the same sort of awareness concerning cats crawling into the engine compartment of vehicles to keep warm in winter.

The video was made in Ohio, USA and was originally on the HUMANKIND, USA TODAY
website. In time the video may stop working please note as it is embedded here and not served by the computer which serves the article.

Screenshot.

Weird dog picture signals horror cat treatment

I am not going to talk about this a lot because it is too distressing. But in the photograph just below this paragraph you see a very strange, indeed weird, situation. You see lots of dogs clambering around the driver's and passenger's seat in a van parked in Hampton, Oakland, New Jersey, USA. It is just not the kind of picture you see, ever. It caught my eye and as expected it reveals a horror story behind it.

Dogs inside van packed full of dead and sick cats and dogs. Image: Fox News.

Looking at the picture you can see that the unamed woman who owns these cats and dogs was living on a shoestring. They've repaired the dashboard with duct tape. It looks very grimy. The dogs look very sad and confused.

We are told that inside the vehicle there were 38 dogs and eight cats. Rescuers made the discovery last Saturday, April 8. The vehicle had been parked for two days at least. There were dogs running around the parking lot. A foul odour emanated from the vehicle unsurprisingly.

The dogs were soaked in urine and faeces. The vehicle was packed with animals.The cats and dogs inside the truck were terrified and huddled in all corners. 

Rescuers pulled them from the vehicle one by one. There were dead animals inside the vehicle which was soaked in urine, faeces and where there were animal remains. It is truly a ghastly, horrible and a horror story. It is the worst kind of animal abuse and animal hoarding.

The hoarding woman had decided to put all her animals in the van because her home in Virginia had been damaged in a fire. This had apparently forced her to live in the van with her large entourage of animals. She'd driven from Virginia to NJ.

It is such a relief, though, that they've been rescued and can start living normal lives with people who care. Ironically, then, that the person who did this thought that she was caring for them when she achieved quite the opposite. It is quite sad really. I feel for her despite the abuse she delivered to her animals. Often hoarders are borderline mentally ill.

Different rescue organisations were involved in this big job. It was Hampton animal control which were the first responders. They stayed into the late hours to rescue the animals and ensure that they had safe placements.

The identity of the driver has not been released. The information comes from Fox News Digital. They say that they have reached out to local police to seek more details.

Turkish Van cat rescued from rubble of Turkey earthquakes after 129 days

Update a few days later! He adopted the cat. Fabulous and here is the latest image:

Below is an earlier image (a video screenshot) after the rescue. They are made for each other. I just pray that the relationship stands the test of time. 

Turkish Van cat rescued from rubble of Turkey earthquakes after 129 days. Screeshot.

The caption to the video on Reddit.com is:

The cat, which was rescued in the 129th hour of the earthquake in Gaziantep/ Turkiye, did not leave the fire crews that saved it. They named it "Enkaz" (means rubble in Turkish) . Firefighter Ali Çakas said, "If we can't find the owner, I will own it."

A lovely little video. What a couple they make: handsome guy and equally attractive cat. I think it is a PR coup by the rescue department.

If I was being a little bit cynical which I am prone to be I would think that this was a set up job! The guy is too handsome and it looks like it was a video produced by the Turkish rescue team's public relations department! Great job though. I think I might be too cynical. Perhaps the PR department got hold of it and promoted the rescue but it is genuine.

 

Technical cat breed observation

An interesting aspect of this charming little video is that the cat is a classic Turkish Van with the inverted 'V' on top of head between the ears. The cat could be purebred although he or she is not officially a purebred cat. The markings are absolutely perfect. The thing is this: this is a Turkish Van cat in Turkey. 

I suspect that the cat is not registered with a cat association but he or she will be as purebred as the most purebred American created Turkish Van cat on the continent of America. 

In fact, it could be argued that the rescued Turkish Van we see in the video is more pure and more genuine than the selectively bred versions in America because the latter are very distanced from the original Turkish vans in terms of their DNA.

Dave the stray cat befriended by 2 England footballers in Qatar to come to England

 

Kyle Walker who marked Kylian Mbappe in the quarter-final match between England and France, said: "John [Stones] named him Dave. Some people really don't like the cat but I love him. I love him."

The Three Lions returned to the UK without the World Cup but Dave the cat is going to be shipped out of Qatar despite the fact that the players said that they would only do it if they won the World Cup. This is a great result for Dave.

Dave on his way to a shelter in preparation for flying to England in due course. Image: Daily Mail photographer.

The promise that they would take him home was made by England defenders Kyle Walker and John Stone.

Before Saturday's defeat against France, Walker added: "Dave is fine. Hopefully I can stick to my promise that he will come home with us if we were to win the World Cup."

The video on this page at the top of the article shows you that Dave is coming home and the ladies in the video I believe are the ones who work at the Qatar Animal Welfare Society. They are being paid £2000 by the players to prepare Dave for his flight to the UK.

He will be micro-chipped, vaccinated, neutered and then he will have to spend four months in quarantine before making his trip to his new life in Manchester, England.

Dave is going to dislike that quarantine session tremendously but his future looks bright because he has somebody who really loves him and who will care for him.

The lady's name is Janet Barry, 68. The Times tells me that she is the head of the society. She said: "Dave a really lovely, talkative tabby and it's easy to see why the players fell in love with him. He's a beautiful cat and will be staying with me before he's flown to the players because we don't want him doing a disappearing act from the hotel.

She further added: "The FA [Football Association] approached me to help them after the players said they wanted him properly looked after and brought home."

The manager of the hotel where they stayed said that there are lots of stray cats around the souq "but Dave is now one of the fattest and healthiest after being fed at England dining tables for so long."

The stray cats are familiar across Qatar. There is one England player who is frightened of cats. He is the midfielder, Jordan Henderson.

His teammates, being aware of this, played pranks on him. A fellow midfielder, James Maddison, said: "The other day [Henderson] was eating and I just went behind him and brushed his leg with my hand. I have never seen someone shoot up so fast. He was so scared."

Rescue centre insists people contact them if they want to relinquish their cats

North Wexford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NWSPCA) ask people to contact them if they want to relinquish their cats and not dump them in the car park!

Joe Murray, the chairperson of the NWSPCA is upset because when people just dump cats near the rescue centre that he manages it creates all kinds of problems because they are suddenly presented with a large number of cats. It upsets the management of the cats currently in their charge and those cats due to be taken in.

Cats and kittens dumped at NWSPCA in sealed containers. Image: NWSPCA.

And of course, the dumped cats can be at serious risk of harm. He prefers it if people contact the rescue centre and discuss the matter with them so that the cats can be handed over in a controlled way which is good for the health of the cats and good for the management of the rescue centre.

What sparked this request was a couple of incidents in which sealed boxes were dumped on the premises with mother cats and kittens inside. The fact that the boxes were sealed is I think unforgivable because the cats inside could have been harmed.

RELATED ARTICLE: Cat rescue centres in London, UK – mapped to facilitate finding them.

Joe Murray said that it was extremely hot day. Two adults and ten kittens were dumped. The second incident involved two adults and four kittens. It seems certain that this was a failure to sterilise cats. This happens far too often, and it is due to carelessness and ignorance.

Joe Murray said: "They weren’t left at the cattery, they were left in the car park, and it was only by chance that one of us noticed the boxes and decided to look in. If it wasn’t for that, they probably wouldn’t have survived the night in that heat."

Rightly, he said that dumping cats in this way is unacceptable and that it hinders the operation of the rescue centre and therefore the service that they can offer other animals and other caregivers.

The North Wexford rescue centre has limited resources and they are trying to service as many people as possible. They have a waiting-list. They only have a certain amount of space and dumping cats leads to the dumped cats jumping the queue. 

This means that people who want to relinquish their cats in a reasonable way and who are working with the rescue centre are then pushed back which is unfair for both people and cats.

They are forced to turn away people who are doing the right things he said. He further added that "Dumping cats like this is selfish of people because they're not giving us a choice."

RELATED: A cat rescuer describes what she faces when those who won’t spay/neuter are part of the problem.

He said that the cats were probably fine where they were, and they could have stayed there for a week or so which would have enabled the rescue centre to organise themselves and help with food and then use crates when they took them in at the next opportunity at a time when there was space available at the centre.

The key point that Joe Murray wants to make is: "The answer is to contact us and work with us."

As anybody who follows cat rescue knows, it is quite commonplace for people to dump cats at rescue centres either over the weekend or at night even in freezing weather in order to avoid meeting with the rescue staff because no doubt the person relinquishing the cats is embarrassed.

They should swallow their embarrassment and take courage to admit that they can't cope and then make arrangements with the rescue staff to hand over the cats in a controlled manner.

7-year-old Violeta and her large grey cat Richard evacuated from Odessa, Ukraine to Poland (picture)

This is a nice picture of 7-year-old Violeta who made the 4-day journey from Odessa with her cat Richard.  It is good to see that she has a nice leash for Richard as the journey must have been fraught with problems and there will be more hazards to come when Richard might have the urge to run. And if your cat runs you might never see him again under these circumstances.

I have seen many evacuees from Ukraine carrying cats without carriers. I have a couple of cats, one in each arm held by an Indian student who wanted to go home.  He was a foreign student in Ukraine as the fees are cheaper than in northern Europe.

That would scare me as there would be a constant possibility that the cat would run out of fear if a bomb goes off and be impossible to find.

7-year-old Violeta and her large grey cat Richard evacuated from Odessa, Ukraine to Poland (picture). Photo: Twitter.

One million people have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine - among them 7 year old Violeta who made the 4 day journey from Odessa with her cat Richard pic.twitter.com/u0ivGSRepY

— christinalamb (@christinalamb) March 4, 2022

Here she is again. This is a photo of a printed hardcopy in a newspaper which is why the quality is poor. I can't find the original at the moment. She has become a bit of a celebrity and so has her cat, Richard.

Violeta and her cat Richard. Image: Twitter.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) attracted more attention rescuing a cat then they would in rescuing 10 men

The RNLI have said that in rescuing a white cat from a river they attracted more attention than if they had rescued 10 men 👍. Great Yarmouth and Gorleston coxswain, Paddy Lee, said:

If we'd rescued 10 men, I don't think we'd have got as much attention. It's even hit the headlines in places like Italy and France.

Oliver Bolton took the photographs. He said that the rescue had been dramatic. The cat, who they have named Icicle, fell into a river. Icicle appears to have clambered up to a space about 2 feet above the waterline in a wall but was stuck there.

Icicle on the ledge. Photo: Oliver Bolton.

RNLI rescue a white cat from a river near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Photo: Oliver Bolton.

Icicle after his rescue from a river. Photo: Oliver Bolton.

It looks as though somebody called out the RNLI and just before they arrived icicle fell into the river. The men of the RNLI quickly got to him and scooped him out of the water. They wrapped him in a warm blanket as you can see in the photograph.

He was reunited with his owner Mandy Baker who said that he has used up his nine lives.

Icicle fell into the river about two minutes before the RNLI arrived and the photographer said that he was struggling as they rescued him.

Domestic cats are good swimmers but this cat may have been very tired because he may have been in the water for a long time before he clambered up to that ledge and then fell back in. And the water must've been very cold. 

I would have thought though that he would have survived for quite a bit longer because domestic cats are very durable, resilient creatures. They are great survivors which is exactly why they have nine lives.

Picture of a Ukrainian soldier with a calico cat tucked into his jacket

This is one of quite a few pictures that I have seen of Ukrainian soldiers and their cat or dog companions. This young Ukrainian soldier (or is he a civilian volunteer in a camouflage jacket?) has a calico cat tucked inside his jacket. A calico cat is a tortoiseshell-and-white cat. They are almost invariably female as are tortoiseshell cats. The man is genuinely enamoured of his cat companion.

Picture of a Ukrainian soldier with a calico cat tucked into his jacket. Photo: Reddit.

The cats keep them company and entertain them. The dogs help them do their job. I remember one story of a Ukrainian soldier in the trenches on the front line in the north of the country at the border between Ukraine and Russia who relied upon his stray dog companion to help spot the enemy because his sense of smell and awareness was superior to his. He believed that they made a good team together.

RELATED: Stray animals boost morale on Ukraine’s front lines as Russian troops invade.

It's great to see a stray dog becoming useful and for his human caregiver benefiting from the relationship as is the dog. It becomes a symbiotic relationship in which both parties mutually benefit. This is a silver lining to this ridiculous war which should never have happened but which is the project of a madman, Putin.

Quite a lot of people think that he has lost his mind because he has been in isolation for two years or more, partly because of Covid about which he is paranoid and partly anyway because he has apparently become somewhat reclusive with a coterie of buddies from his KGB days who advise him. These men have very distorted views of the West as has Putin. He has called Ukrainians neo-Nazis or even plain Nazis when ironically, he is behaving just like Hitler.

Japan: restaurant owner rescued stray cats and they rescued his business

NEWS AND COMMENT-JAPAN: This is a nice story of symbiosis, to use a rarely used word, certainly in this context. It means a relationship in which both parties benefit the other. And in this instance both Naoki Teraoka, the owner of a model railway themed restaurant (Tetsudokan) benefited greatly after he rescued stray cats near his business.

He was going through a very difficult time because of Covid. A pretty typical scenario for huge swathes of businesses in entertainment and hospitality. He has a model railway in his restaurant to create a theme and added interest. And he loves model railways.

Photo: believed to be by @Caferest_bar_Fe.

It's a popular restaurant and he was going bust because of Covid. He noticed a stray kitten next to his restaurant and decided to help because the cat needed help in terms of food and medical treatment. He named him Simba. And a few days later he noticed Simba's mother. He took both of them in. After all, he had plenty of unused food as there were no customers 👍. This implies, by the way, that he fed them human food which is not a good idea but I am pretty sure he also fed them cat food.

And then Simba's mother brought him three more kittens. He became a cat rescuer and the entire concept of his restaurant changed as a result. You can see the photographs on this page. They kind of occupied the place as they do; no doubt because they were delighted to be looked after.

Rescue cats occupy model railway themed restaurant and boost business. Image in public domain (believed).

He is very tolerant of them climbing all over his model railway which looks as if it was meticulously built. I'm sure they did some damage but I guess he accepted it because the presence of the cats attracted customers and media attention. The photographs of his rescued cats on his model railway went viral. It was a happy accident which he had not foreseen.

Japan: restaurant owner rescued stray cats and they rescued his business. Photo in public domain (believed).

He said: "It was a financially difficult time for us, but we decided to help the cat family. Yes, we thought we were helping them, but they were the ones who helped us."

His restaurant business appears to be back on its feet. He has now become a cat rescuer as well. There are 14 stray cats in all. It appears to have become a cat café/model railway themed restaurant 😊. He has opened a cat shelter and cat boarding cattery on the second floor. This allows his clients to go upstairs to adopt a cat should they wish. Thus far he has adopted out 100 cats I'm told by MSN News.

There is a moral behind the story: you reap what you sow. It's an old adage which is clearly applicable.

Animal advocates must never forget Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel the "Cat Man of Aleppo"

I just want to touch base again with this story. It has been around for a while. Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel first came to prominence on the Internet during the Syrian war. That has abated and fizzled out as far as I'm aware but there is still a great need to support the stray and feral cats of Aleppo which is exactly what Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel continues to do.

Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel the "Cat Man of Aleppo". Image: screenshot from FB video.

He has a Facebook page and, on that page, we see him educating the children of that city. There is no direct commentary to a video. There is background music instead. But we see him involving the children in cat rescue and feeding the stray cats. He also hands out what appears to be dry cat food for the cats.

Feeding the stray cats of Aleppo, Syria. Screenshot from FB video.

I can't embed the video on this page because his Facebook's settings don't allow. I have asked him to have a look at that in order to help promote his work.

What is particularly nice about the video which you can see by clicking on this link, is that he is thinking of the future. He is trying to get the kids interested in the cats and in animal welfare generally. He needs their involvement. They are the future of animal welfare.

There are 2 links to earlier stories about Alaa, the Cat Man of Aleppo. Please read them for background information on this man and his work.

RELATED: Syria Cat Rescue (Aleppo).

It seems to me that all he can do is to feed them and comfort them. I don't think he has access to veterinary care. Although he might have to a limited extent. Clearly the cats need veterinary care. They also need to be processed under typical TNR program policies. I don't know whether he has access to facilities to spay and neuter the cats in his care. I would doubt that too. But I hope that I am wrong.

RELATED: Assad or the Russians bombed a famous cat sanctuary in Aleppo.

At least they have him to care for them as best he can. People in the West, the comfortable developed world, need to praise and reward people like Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel. He is a rare person. He is a hero because he is doing something which is very difficult to do in such a dire situation. His work is highly altruistic. He has to look after himself and perhaps a family as well but he gives of his time to stray cats.

In the eyes of many stray and feral cats are pest and vermin. They are the lowest of the low next to stray dogs. In many undeveloped countries they are persecuted and callously killed. He is doing the opposite. He is preserving life and trying to make their lives more acceptable and tolerable. This is the true sharp end of animal welfare.

Years ago, I learned that he is an ambulance driver. He originally operated out of an area called Masaken Hanano in Aleppo. He may still be there. When he first started working on cat rescue or conservation in Aleppo the area was being bombed and destroyed by President Assad's bombs and Russian rockets. At that time, he was taking a huge risk to simply be out there on the streets feeding the cats, it seems to me. This was in 2016. Aleppo was being destroyed. You can imagine how many cats were destroyed as well as people by those bombs and rockets.

The purpose of this post is to praise the man. To reward him with a little bit of publicity. It's not much. I just feel that I need to do my bit, to chip in, to support a man who deserves support and praise.