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n impulsive thought to take a find a driver. She also faces opposi-
stray cat back home becomes tions from villagers. “Some villagers
Athe first step of her life as a cat might be unfriendly to cat rescuers When you love
rescuer. Lisa Olausen’s house is a shel- and forbid them from capturing stray
ter for stray cats waiting for adoption. cats,” she says. Despite the difficulties, the cats, you just
Over 2,000 homeless kittens have she still enjoys her work.
stayed at her home temporarily for the have to do it
past 16 years. Love and struggle
Now a full-time individual cat res- Olausen sees cats as an important
cue volunteer, her life has changed existence in her life. She sees helping her cat shelter financially. The medical
since 2003 when she brought the first cats find new owners as “arranging expenditure for pets is high. “When
stray cat for neutering. She sold her marriage for her sons and daughters”. you love them [the cats], you just have
beauty parlour business and decided She hopes these cats can live in a new to do it,” she says.
to devote her time to cat rescuing. The home happily ever after.
cat was not the first stray animal she Having rescued stray cats for so Outside the shelter
took home. In 2000, when she was still many years, Olausen says there were As a cat rescuer, Olausen supports
working in the construction industry, moments that she thought of giv- the idea of establishing animal cops
she saved a stray dog in a construction ing up, especially when someone re- since she believes
site. turned her the cats she had taken care many ani-
Olausen does not regard cat res- of before. There was once an adopter mal abuse
cuing as an achievement. Her belief who claimed an 11-year-old cat that cases are
is simple – to save cats whenever she he adopted from her, attacked his ignored by
can. new-born baby. The adopter returned the police.
the cat to her and she was very disap- “Actually,
Cat rescue takes hard work pointed. “Sometimes it might be the many of my
To save stray cats, Olausen has to baby attacking the cat first. The cat
first catch a targeted cat and bring it only attacked the baby once!”
to a vet for body check and neutering. She is often worried if the
Then she calls for adoption through cats she takes home will be
her Facebook page, which has more adopted and if the adopter
than 10,000 followers. In order to is irresponsible. Some of
screen potential adopters, Olausen the cats that no one wanted
asks them their family situations and eventually became her pets.
living conditions and even arranges For Olausen, a respon-
home visits. sible cat owner should be
Olausen is also a volunteer for the able to protect a cat and
Cat Colony Care Programme (CCCP) should not abandon it in
under the Society for the Prevention any situation. “You have
of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). She to take care of
regularly looks for stray cats in her it till the end
neighbourhood and sends them to of its life once
the SPCA for further neutering op- you decide to
erations. She is a supporter of this raise it,” she
scheme, as it saves cats instead of eu- says. She adds
thanising them. that cats need
Olausen encounters many difficul- to be educated
ties during her daily rescuing works, as well. Pamper-
like suffering from mosquito bites ing them does not
in summer and cold in winter. Hav- mean loving them.
ing no driving license, every time she She finds it
takes a stray cat to a vet, she has to hard to maintain