A Great Irish Rescue Lady...

Cats have low priority in rural Ireland. People were dirt poor and they had and have no commercial value so were not cared for or neutered. I once went to a farm when my car broke down and there was a whole colony of over 20 cats sitting in the sun on a wall...
Islands are the worst, they breed and cannot spread anywhere

One such island was Cape Clear off Cork

Then a lady came home in her old age...

Here is her story

Irelands Cat Woman

Good for her!

It's a lot like that in Japan too. Lots of the islands here have little fishing villages on them. Cats were brought over to deal with the rats and now they've bred to the point were the islands are so over-crowded the cats are starving to death.

Some of them are helped by tourism, but what they really need is a proper TNR program in place.

Norachan said:

Good for her!

It's a lot like that in Japan too. Lots of the islands here have little fishing villages on them. Cats were brought over to deal with the rats and now they've bred to the point were the islands are so over-crowded the cats are starving to death.

Some of them are helped by tourism, but what they really need is a proper TNR program in place.

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We have a good TNR programme here, run by expert volunteers

Mrs Cotter lived only a year after that . She was 77 when she did that great work.

Norachan said:

Good for her!

It's a lot like that in Japan too. Lots of the islands here have little fishing villages on them. Cats were brought over to deal with the rats and now they've bred to the point were the islands are so over-crowded the cats are starving to death.

Some of them are helped by tourism, but what they really need is a proper TNR program in place.

Click to expand...

The 2 bigger cat islands are actually on my itinerary for when we visit Japan hopefully in the coming years.

-Aoshima
-Tashirojima

As well as the
-Gotoku-ji Shrine aka Maneki Neko Temple

I am Italian and live in Italy, but I do love Ireland and spend my holidays on the Emerald Isle every year, and I think and hope I will ever do.
I've been there 20 times so far.

But I do not like the way animals in general, and cats in particular, are treated in that country. It hurts, it breaks, my heart to see certain situations.

In the last 10-12 years, when I travel up there, I always carry with me small portions of dry food just in case some feral cat crosses my path.
On more than one occasion I had to use those portions, and I have always been looked upon by the locals, like I was doing the most disgusting thing in the world, a kind of feeling that I've never had in my country when I do the same thing.

This happened in Castletownbere, in Youghal, in Carrick, etc.
A few years back I was driving by this house
Google Maps
when I saw a number of small kittens and cats (at least 15 of them) outside the door, on that platform around the house, all of them were in desperate need of help! I stopped the car, I approached them and the lady came out of the door and shooed me away. I was there to help, I was sent away rudely.

I also found several run over cats, I have always stopped the car to see if I could be still helpful, or to remove the poor cat to prevent further destruction of its poor body, and to see if the closest house had a clue of whom the cat was.
I was yelled at, I was criticized, I was laughed at, and so on...

But I also saw that Ginger, a stray cat in Drogheda, was rather well looked after by a few persons living near Magdalene Tower.

Well, I do love that country, but what I see every time really breaks my heart.

I don't know how that sweet woman on Clare Island was considered by the locals, but I might think she was seen as a crazy woman.

I hear you and agree BUT you must remember how dirt poor and starving many Irish folk were until fairly recently. Cats have no commercial value and folk coiuld not afford to feed them or neuter them and this carries on. BUT if you google "cat rescues Ireland" and TNR Ireland you will see how much is being done and folk like myself are working also. Very hard!

The lady on CAPE CLEAR island was deeply respected, supported and honoured for what she did.

As I am locally respected here for the rescuing I do.

I think I too would be aghast if a stranger started feeding my cats! If you read my thread re Stinkertom update you will see there are tactful and effective ways to help!

Cats will beg; does not mean they are neglected.

I once called at a farm to find a huge colony of cats; I called the local cat rescue who have official status and tact.

Or report to the ISPCA etc? Just avoid being confrontational?

Just is the way of doing it? better to support local rescues etc.

islander said:

I hear you and agree BUT you must remember how dirt poor and starving many Irish folk were until fairly recently. Cats have no commercial value and folk coiuld not afford to feed them or neuter them and this carries on. BUT if you google "cat rescues Ireland" and TNR Ireland you will see how much is being done and folk like myself are working also. Very hard!

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I know there are groups for TNR in Ireland. I follow another Irish forum (boards.ie, well a group of fora), and I know how hard some rescuers work.
I have been to Ireland so many times, three weeks each time on average, so I had the chance to know and meet people. I saw how your country has improved in the years, I was there during the years of the Celtic Tiger, and I have appreciated how you sort of came out of the recession, unlike my country that is still in the mud.
The impression I have had in Ireland, though, is that a dog is more valuable than a cat, a cat is just a cat. These are the words I heard too many times.

As I am locally respected here for the rescuing I do.

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This is great indeed!

I think I too would be aghast if a stranger started feeding my cats! If you read my thread re Stinkertom update you will see there are tactful and effective ways to help!

Cats will beg; does not mean they are neglected.

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The cat I fed on some occasions were undoubtedly ferals or stray, they were starving, they were skinny and desperate, so I gave them some kibbles, but I still remember the way the people looked at me.
I wasn't feeding someone else's cat, I was feeding a nobody's cat.

The cats outside that house on Lough Gur were clearly neglected, skinny and in poor conditions, their eyes were sore, some had runny noses, one of them couldn't even move, and I didn't want to take them away, I was just there to help with a bit of food.

I say, I do love your country, I do very much, but there is this thing that I can't accept... sorry.

All I can say is... contact folk who are there to help. A passing stranger feeding and causing offence does more harm then good. Had I gone feet first re Stinkertom? It is against the law here to neglect cats but not your place or mine to do as you are doing? I have encountered this so many times. And I live here 24/7 ! I am not Irish by the way.

But yes I would brindle at the way you went about it! Not the way to get things improved.

Did more harm than good too, in that is sets folk against help by offending. People matter too and there are ways to support and help

Over and out from me on this.. next time please report abuse and neglect to the proper authorities? Thank you . They know what they are doing.
I have lost count of the times I have done this quietly and got cats and dogs cared for properly.
PS yes a dog is worth far more than a cat here. A dog is a working animal worth a lot of money . .

Maybe choose another country to visit! And accept its ways and ethos

Well, I'll try to contact the Garda (the police, for non-Irish readers) next time I see a starving kitten. Hopefully they will come out soon and give me directions about who I have to call.

Anyway, I think I will keep visiting Ireland despite what people say, and despite the way certain things go. That country has many other qualities.