Snowy

One evening when Kim was on her way home from a long day at ACE, she saw a group of children playing and giggling on the street, and whilst this in itself is not unusual, something gave her the feeling that not all was right.  As she pulled over in the truck, she saw that they had a small white kitten to play with, and were swinging it around by its back legs, and throwing it around between them.

Kim immediately ran across to them and grabbed hold of the kitten, and cuddled the poor terrified kitten in her arms as he shook from fear.  She checked him over, and amazingly he had not been damaged YET by the children's games!

The children, only spoke Arabic, and Kim's Arabic was not up to being able to explain to them that this animal has feelings, can be hurt, physically and mentally, and that he is terrified. But by Egyptian law, she could not just take the kitten as he was owned by one of the children's families.  Eventually, the age old translator, 'money' talked across the language divide, and Kim managed to negotiate the kittens release from this torture to her care for 4 LE (about 40pence at that time).

Although ACE is NOT a re-homing centre, Kim just could not allow this to continue. Snowy, as he was soon named, was safe, and Kim never wanted him to be subject to that treatment again.

Which is why he is now a permanent resident here with us at ACE,  he settled into life at the old centre, and now at the new one quite quickly!

Snowy's story shows the HUGE need for education, these children were not purposefully being cruel, they are just not taught that animals feel pain, or even have a brain, they are just a toy.  These children, like most, will always find ways to amuse themselves and without distractions of computer games and modern toys they just have to make do with whatever they can find, sometimes this might be an old tyre and a stick, but other times it might be a tiny helpless kitten or puppy.

There are far too many cats and dogs in Luxor and across Egypt to rescue them all, and it is not practical or possible within the current Egyptian laws to have a spaying and neutering programme.  The ONLY answer to stop this kind of thing from happening is to EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE so that the children learn how to play kindly with, and appreciate their animals.

Now, that Snowy is a permanent resident here at ACE, he often helps with the filing!  (See picture above!)  Or if he has the time, makes us all a cup of tea (see picture right!) which is clearly a tiring job!  You can see he has fitted in well to a life at ACE, and is no longer that stressed, terrified, tiny, white ball of fluff that he was when Kim first found him.

If you would like to help us care for Snowy, you can adopt him, contact us for more details.