Meet Dawn, The Cat Saint Of Cyprus

This is May. This is Nala. This is Suri, that’s Twiglet. These cats and kittens are all Dawn’s children. Dawn is currently managing a sanctuary that has nearly 800 cats and kittens – the Tala Monastery Cat Park, in Paphos, Cyprus. This crazy cat lady od 46 years old, she is originally from West Yorkshire, UK.

Dawn and her husband Mark came to Cyprus for one year and brought their three cats to the island with them, and unfortunately, one of the three cats decided not to come home when they released it. So, they started to search and somebody told them to go to the Agios Neophytos Monastery. There were approximately 70 adult cats that were living up in the monastery. When they saw the condition of the cats they felt they wanted to help sterilize, vaccinate, try to rehome and try to create an environment for the cats that was as close to a home environment, as much as possible.

They now have just under 800 cats. They have recently rehomed their 613th cat. They are free of charge, and they are not selling the animals which is crucial when you are running a sanctuary. Every year they receive around 200 kittens that are abandoned in the car park and the majority of the time they are not in a good condition.

First thing in the morning at home, they are dealing with the large volume of animals they keep at home. Then they distribute the wet food for the cats, about 40 kg every day. A lot of mouths to feed. Then disinfecting, cleaning, washing of litter trays, food bowls, changing over a bedding. The money for all of this is raised through other events, 12-month sponsorships.

But the biggest satisfaction from all this work is seeing an animal in need changing its feral personality in a very short time.