Cats of Curacao, laat je hart spreken...
Mariette Hanssen verhuisde in 2014 van Heerlen naar Curaçao en had geen idee dat zij de kattenmoeder van het eiland zou worden, met nu meer dan 200 katten. Mariette heeft dringend medicijnen nodig. Laat je hart spreken en help Mariette met helpen.
Elke donatie is meer dan welkom
Nederland:
ING Bank / IBAN NL24
INGB0005817163
t.n.v. MJ Hanssen, Heerlen
o.v.v. Cats of Curacao
Kunuku Love (Two hearts beating as one) - with Len Land Photography.
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About us - Our origin story I moved to Curacao in the fall of 2014. I needed a couple of months to settle down and find a place where I wanted to live. I took my two cats, Max and Tigger, both 11 years old, with me.
Fairly new to the island, I needed to find a vet, where I could take my animals to in case they needed medical attention. So I asked around, but didn’t decide on a vet then and there. A few months later, I found an emaciated kitten on my doorstep and took her in. It was 4.00 am, so I fed her and she settled in my living room chair for a nap, the same morning I took her to a vet. It was there, that I heard about the huge dog and cat problems on the island and got interested in trying to help. I had been a volunteer for the RSPCA for years in Holland, so I thought it would be nice, to take that up in my new homeland. So I asked for more information and contacted some people who were already doing rescue work for cats and dogs and that’s how it all started.
Around the same time, I also became a volunteer on a sustainable living project, a “kunuku” as it is called over here. Meaning government owned Farmland. There were a few cats, that didn’t look good. They seemed to belong to nobody, they just were around. So I started feeding the cats that were there… and numbers increased by the day. Everyday, more cats showed up for “ breakfast”… and I saw that it could turn into a huge problem, if they all hadn’t been helped. So I took it upon myself, to trap them, get them spayed and neutered. In total the group consisted of about (what I thought) 35 cats. Later on I learned, that a neighbor just 2 houses up, used to feed these cats. So I went over there, to find even more cats, there were at least 20 more! The couple, in their early 70’s, couldn’t handle the problem by themselves, there were just too many cats! This is the group I still feed every morning and give medical attention to, if needed.
WE NEED HELP! … We need more cat traps, we need vets to come out to the island and support our local vets in surgery, we need materials/surgical equipment. But most of all, we need caring, animal loving people to support our cause and help pay for sterilizations and treatments. We need people who are willing to adopt an animal long distance, and support the caretaker in the monthly costs of caring for that animal. Since for the most part, the locals are very poor, they can’t pay for the work we do. So I’m looking for help outside of Curacao, to solve the problem. I need to, because if I don’t help these animals, who will?
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