After the city of Wuhan was quarantined, among the millions who cannot return are pet owners. Many had left their cats alone with a week’s supply of food and water. As time went on, the poor, left-behind cats desperately needed rescue.
It all started when a young man calling himself CY set out from Xinzhou on his pushbike; destination Wuhan to rescue his trapped cat. Starting out at 6.30 am, he spent almost 12 hours in the saddle to cover the 66 kilometre journey.
His actions created a snowball effect. A WeChat group became the way for pet owners to reach out for help. While they found no shortage of volunteers, there were many challenges.
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At first, they asked for help from friends who were still in Wuhan. But this was little good if the friend did not live in the same residential compound. Then they would turn to deliverymen. But they too had no access to the property. The fortunate ones found an eventual solution in a complex combination of friends, deliverymen, pet stores, family members and maids who had a key.
But time for the left-behind cats was running out.
A total of 1.8 million people have to date watched the newly-released documentary, “City of Cats” (猫的城), that tells of volunteer efforts to prevent the death of thousands of stranded pets.
Cats, being largely home bound, fared better than the dogs, whose reckless owners had seen fit to leave them alone for a week or more. Upon gaining entry to a home, volunteers would find a very hungry dog that had defecated on every available surface.
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But it’s not only the caring, concerned pet lovers who are among the documentary’s viewers. It’s the voyeuristic too.
The video includes a disturbing scene where a squat toilet is de-constructed so that the rescuer may get their hand down far enough inside to retrieve a tiny puppy that fell into the toilet in its owner’s absence. The animal was barely alive.
Then there are the starving left-behind cats that decided to do something about their situation, squeezing out of a window to find themselves trapped outside on the 21st floor. Dead cats have become a commonplace sight in Wuhan. Others, once domestic pets, are now wild strays.
These cats now find themselves victims of new laws passed in the wake of Covid-19. With the feeding of wild animals now prohibited, the cats either starve or depend on a volunteer to take the law into their own hands.
While many struggle to care remotely for their left-behind cats at home, such a volunteer group is providing a lifeline that not only keeps pets alive, but also helps preserve what little sanity is left for those cut off from their beloved animal companions.
