Since 1996, the cat school in Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf (Seine-Maritime) has been collecting cats to be sterilized, pampered and adopted for term. In the last few days, the volunteers have given up.
The Festival of Lights 2022 in Lyon
The tomcats will no longer meow… Since 31 December 2022, the cat school has closed its doors. It is the end of an association career for the volunteers, afterwards 27 years of good and loyal service.
“We have been there for 20 years. It is with sadness that we close, says Chantal Cavelier, cashier at the cat school. It’s not a pride, but I think we had it great influence on human and animal rescue.“
Since 1996, when the shelter opened, 1,400 twins have found families. The association’s volunteers, invested 7 days a week, were responsible pamper, vaccinate, sterilize and chip cats before adoption.
For Annie Harel, president of the cat school, it is not easy to completely turn the page, although she has fond memories of this adventure.
“A lot of happiness but still distress because we still find very abused cats, not treated because the owners don’t sterilize them“, she explains.
“We end up with kittens, eyes glued together, typhoid, colds, everything. There’s still work to be done, even after 27 years. Now we have to think about something else. We’re still at it.”
Annie Harel, chairman of the cat school
Annie Horel insists on the need for find out the presence of new associations and host families to rescue abandoned cats.
After 27 years of activity, the cat school did not find anyone to take over the association.
Despite the disappearance of the cat school, other shelters continue to exist, notably those Verson SPA retreatnear Caen (Calvados).
Opened in 1997, the refuge consists of 4 trainers and a receptionist. Between January and September 2022, 539 cats and 330 dogs were welcomed at the shelter. Every day, volunteers can come and walk the animals.
There are also other associations in the Seine-Maritime: theThe Aristraitchat Association at Le Trait, near Jumièges which grows a warning cry in front of the many stray and abandoned cats and kittens.
The association located in Darnétal, which is near Rouen, explains on its website no longer able to accommodate a cat “for the well-being of our association’s cats, but also financially“.
Cats are still begging to be adopted.
The Norman Society for the Protection of Animals (SNPA) warns the public about leaving animals, such as abandoned and tied dog in the middle of the Maromme forest, a few days ago.
The SNPA in Rouen believes that this explosion of abandonments is “the consequence of forced purchase of animals during incarceration“.
