Please don’t turn away from babies like Larimar

Once more, I write to you through a river of tears. Our beautiful island is literally flooded with the killer virus Panleukopenia and kittens are dying across all regions, all neighbourhoods, in households, on the streets and before my eyes. The gut-wrenching frustration is that it could be eradicated with a comprehensive vaccination program. What stands in the way? Money. There is simply no money.

I look back to the beginning of 2022 and the waves of optimism and excitement that carried us into the new year. We were moving into Phase 1 of the new Villa Kitty, there would be space for all, isolating sick cats and kittens would be easier than in our old cramped and broken premises and we would be better equipped in terms of buildings and systems to fight Panleukopenia and any other virus that threatened our feline family.

Six months in and nobody could have foreseen the volume of distress calls, dumpings and deaths with which Villa Kitty is inundated. As tourists return to Bali, one would hope and imagine that increased business and prosperity might have a positive effect. Instead, tourist eyes spot a plethora of abandoned and frantic cats and kittens, and Villa Kitty is their first port of call. Many accommodation providers refuse to allow these vulnerable and terrified animals onto their premises. As in the past, we must take them in. Some are already ill. As in the past, our beautiful spacious premises are filling up with the unwanted, undervalued, cast aside tiny citizens.

An example: a holidaying couple hired a driver to take them to a popular waterfall for a refreshing swim. Unfortunately, the site is near a temple where the tossing out of kittens is also popular. Sure enough, the two found a trio of three-week-old kittens, thrown away like garbage. Their hotel forbade them to have them in their room, so on they came to Villa Kitty. In fact, they had to walk the last one and a half kilometres as a local ceremony had closed the surrounding roads for four days.

This is not an isolated case, but it is the tip of a very big iceberg. We’re seeing animals hit by cars and motorbikes, the constant arrival of very sick, dehydrated and incapacitated cats, tiny kittens barely old enough to open their eyes and too young to feed by themselves, bereft of mums, and always, always, the stalking spectre of Panleukopenia. I speak from the frontline of animal welfare, from the daily experience of life, and death, at Villa Kitty. There are countless numbers of creatures who never make it to the sanctuary of Villa Kitty and whose suffering and loneliness is unacknowledged. I find this unbearable. Don’t you?

There’s no way to dress this up prettily. I have no new words to draw your hearts and minds to the appalling situation that exists on Bali. My tears serve no purpose on this earth and yet I cry. I cry for sweet tiny Larimar rescued by Sophani who died this morning from a virus that could have been prevented. I mourn every death and fight for every viable life. I cannot give up. Villa Kitty cannot give up.

Please don’t turn away from babies like Larimar. We have started a vaccination program in our local area. We need to expand this across the island and we need to do it now. Money will allow us to achieve this. Money will allow us to provide the vaccines to vets beyond our region and to animals with no one to care for and protect them. Locals struggled to find the means to vaccinate their companions before Covid. Reduced incomes and tightened belts made any thought of animal care fly out the window. It’s a perfect storm of rampant virus and lack of free vaccination. With your help, we can turn this around.

Let’s stamp out Panleukopenia. If only my river of tears could turn into a river of money. If only.

Please make an urgent donate now!

Thank you,

Elizabeth Henzell
Founder
Villa Kitty Foundation