For Pete's Sake
January 17, 2007 at 4:32 
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.---Ghandhi
The residents of the low income apartments in Koekelberg were told they might lose their homes if they cared for the cats in the neighborhood, even though many of the strays in the area had been neutered and vaccinated. Two women from Brussels, Martina Mueller and Sylvie Prouveur, responding to a report that the neutered cats were “disappearing” at an alarming rate, went to investigate and rescue the remaining strays.
They found the black kitten under a trash can in Le Foyer Koekelbergeois. A pitiful sight, his eyes were infected and crusted over, his tiny body covered in maggots. At the age of four weeks, he was near death.
Rushing the kitten to Dr. Jacques Rauis, they were told he might not live through the night, but with diligent, round-the-clock care, he survived and his vision was restored. Three weeks later, Martina and Sylvie were puzzled by one lingering question on his condition: the still small and somewhat fragile kitten never purred like the other cats and kittens in their care.
We adopted this kitten in early December and named him Petey. The first night in our home, he slept with my 11-year-old son and in the middle of the night my son was awakened by an unexpected sound: it was Petey purring loudly with contentment.
When I told Martina the next day, her eyes filled with tears.
Approximately three months old now, Petey is the sleek and healthy object of our affection and cure for our expat winter blues. We ooh and ahh over his shiny coat and good looks. We laugh over his acrobatics and playful spurts of activity. The children argue over who gets to hold him and love to buy him toys. Sweet and cheerful, easy to handle and calm, Petey’s demeanor belies his traumatic history. He is one of Martina and Sylvie’s success stories.
Part of an informal network of cat lovers in Brussels, Martina and Sylvie estimate they rescue 80-100 cats a year, with Sylvie doing most of the physical hands-on rescues and care and Martina working to secure supplies and services and support her efforts. The animals receive food and veterinary care, are neutered, and are placed in good homes (or at least improved situations) whenever possible. The women and their friends often keep the hard-to-place adult cats indefinitely in their own care.
Martina reports that many of the larger shelters in Belgium are so overcrowded and overwhelmed that they euthanize large numbers of cats and dogs. She estimates that three-quarters of the cats and about half the dogs in these shelters end up being put down. Because of these disturbing numbers, individuals and informal groups have dedicated themselves to doing what they can with their limited resources to help homeless, neglected, and abused animals in Brussels.
Cats who are not neutered and not fed regularly lead a miserable life in the city, often becoming victims of car accidents, predators, kidnappers, or cruel people who enjoy mistreating them or killing them in masses because they consider them a nuisance. Martina, Sylvie, and their friends work hard to try and break the cycle of overpopulation and abuse and are always ready to train people in their work.
They urgently need permanent homes for the cats currently under their care, including Titou, a lovely red cat; Blanchette, a modest, mostly white cat; and a beautiful black and red long-hair female looking for a name and an owner. They invite those who cannot give a cat a permanent home to consider providing a temporary home to a cat or to support their efforts by donating food or driving pets to veterinary appointments etc.
Because Martina and Sylvie are not part of a formal organization, they do not accept monetary donations. However, these are a few of the places in Brussels that help animals that can use financial support as well as people willing to adopt abandoned animals:
Le Fanal des Animaux is a small shelter. Telephone 02 734 60 29, bank account number 068-2058091-69.
Chats Sans Domicile asbl. Telephone 019 69 96 06, bank account 068-2302724-68
My Dream asbl. Telephone 071 76 02 85, bank account 350-1037004-96
You can reach Martina at 02 649 15 81. Call her for Pete's sake!
January 17, 2007
Copyright 2007 Veronica McCabe Deschambault. All rights reserved.
Reader Comments (13)
I certainly think that Martina and Sylvie are to be commended for the great work they are doing for the stay cats of Brussels. Thanks for having made your readers aware of their effort.
I forgot to tell Gert how much I enjoyed hanging out with a cat yesterday, probably because I don't want to end up homeless ...
Petey is gorgeous.
God bless Martina and Sylvie.
Here in Missoula a group of Humane Society volunteers have been capturing, neutering and releasing feral cats from an undeveloped area near downtown. This program proves to be successful around the world for preventing the spread of disease and for limiting the population growth of these animals. But of course some idiots have complained so vociferously that the Humane Society had to stop the program. I've heard, however that there is some clandestine continuation. I hope.
Sad...
Petey is entranced with his new found celebrity and is reading about himself. He's thinking of getting an agent and selling his story to Lifetime. Don't be surprised if you see him on the cover of People and don't tell him he's not a person.