Villa Kitty Turns 56 in Cat Years!
Villa Kitty is on the verge of marking a major milestone, we are turning fifty-six in cat years! A decade if you go by human years – a decade of rescuing and fighting to protect the feline residents of Bali. And what better way to commemorate this than by moving closer to realising our vision and drawing up plans for the construction of our new haven and hospital.
Our mission has always been a challenge. During the last ten years, we have had to wrestle with overcrowding and being under-resourced - it is inherent to the landscape of animal rescue. But we were dealing with manageable numbers of distress calls and intakes, and we were beginning to see a decrease in animals coming into the shelter. Then the pandemic hit, and it threw everything into disarray, significantly impacting tourism and resulting in many non-residents leaving the island.
Currently, the situation is dire and we urgently need support to prevail during these bleak times. We are being overwhelmed by the volume of daily pleas for help, usually for kittens and neonates. In January alone we received 129 cats and kittens, and it is particularly difficult now, as we’ve had outbreaks of panleukopenia, a disease with a high mortality rate - we lost 44 lives in the last month. Making things even worse, there have been disruptions to vaccine orders due to Covid-19. But, even with strict vaccine regimes, there are always risks as vaccines do not take effect immediately and despite stringent infection control and staff who work 24 hours a day, infection cannot be eliminated. It is devastating for the vulnerable animals who lose their lives, and for the staff who deal with death daily. One more reason why we so desperately need a new shelter.
In the field of animal protection there is an unwritten sacred rule – celebrate achievements wholeheartedly for loss often overshadows successes. So it is with joy that we reflect on the shelter we built, the challenges we surmounted and the valuable work we have carried out. We also adopted out two special needs kittens this month, Yowzer and Crème Brulee, both of whom are bursting with a love of life, completely trumping their disabilities and serving as beautiful examples of what we can achieve.
As we finalise the building plans for our future new home, we know we will have adequate space and our own hospital to treat most cases onsite. This will significantly decrease operational costs and allow for the expansion of desexing and vaccination programs to further reduce stray populations and infection in the community.
We know that we will overcome these tumultuous times, that borders will re-open in the months to come and we will be in a new shelter by the end of the year. But at times it can seem like there is a chasm between where we are and our destination, so please lend us your support and donate.