WHEN you climb out of your car you are greeted by a posse of tail wagging, wet-nosed, ‘pleased to meet you’ rescue dogs.
It only gets better as you walk into the home of Eva and Stanley Hibbert for only then do you fully grasp the full extent of the couple’s selfless desire to help and home animals in need.
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Eva Hibbert said their unofficial cat rescue project started when they went to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia in 2004 when Stanley was offered a job in IT at a small company.
“The time that I was there was the most disturbing experience with regards to the cruelty to animals.”
“The cats are seen as vermin and they are exterminated en mass. The kittens are seen running in between cars. They are used as soccer balls. It’s best described as a horror set-up for animals,” said a saddened Eva.
The couple moved into a compound and her heart was quickly won over by a pregnant cat. She said there was no SPCA and she could not just pass on the beloved furball on to someone so she looked after the mom until the feline gave birth. She then cared for the five kittens as well. This was one of her happier stories she shared with the Highway Mail.
Since then, they have forked out money they could have used to pay off their bond to fly 29 animals to their home back here in Durban.
“This is how it went. We kept saying that we wouldn’t take any more and then you would go back and find another cat and you would bring it back. You can’t just leave them there to fend for themselves,” said Eva.
“How do you explain that you do it because you want to save animals? We can’t stand seeing animals suffer. We have kept them all and we paid for all of their bills ourselves and we bring them back here to have a good life.”
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A beautiful and fluffy ginger Persian, Moeks, joined their family a year ago. Eva said her son and husband were staying in the city as it was more affordable and on their way down to the parking lost they saw a large yellow cleaning bucket surrounded by large clumps of ginger fur.
The duo looked at each other with worried expressions before they rushed to see what it was and if they could help.
“When they looked inside they found a ‘dead’ cat. Half of its fur was missing and it wasn’t moving.”
She said it was skin and bones. The son bumped the bucket and the cat raised its head and stared at it with its sunken in eyes that were riddled with infection. Stanley ran upstairs to get some food while her son, lifted the cat into his arms.
“In the condition it was in, it was still able to purr,” said Eva.
Moeks was rushed to a local vet, who told them that they had to give the cat a fighting chance. It was put on a drip and housed at the vet for two weeks. Moeks pulled through but was completely blind in both eyes.
“Moeks was locked in one of the hotel rooms and was found a few days later by a cleaner who put it into a bucket and chucked it out with the rest of the trash,” said Eva, who described one of the many scenarios cats are found in Saudi Arabia’s capital.
It took two months to fight off the fungal infection and one of its eyes came right but the other had to be removed. “Moeks is such an affectionate cat,” said Eva.
Despite attempts to educate the residents at the compounds on having the cats spayed or neutered, the information seemingly fell on deaf ears.
“Exterminators would come every few months and trap them (the cats) in cages, leave them in the sun for a few days and then slit their throats or drop them off in the desert or are fed poisonous meat,” said a disgusted Eva.
“One of my cats somehow removed his collar and was caught by an exterminator when I was still back home in SA and he was killed,” she said about an incident that still haunts her, 10 years later.
Help bring back Oliver:
Two weeks ago, Stanley was travelling down a six lane highway and was on his way to a meeting. He saw a four-week-old kitten run through the traffic but was convinced it was knocked by a car and was ridden over. He couldn’t be late for the meeting nor could he stop during peak hour flow.
He looked back but did not see anything. Despite this, he made sure to stop and look for it on his way back home a few hours later.
He parked his car along the highway and started looking. “It was a miraculous thing. There was a little meow and this little kitten came hobbling to him. Stanley took him home and bathed it,” said Eva.
Stanley is returning to South Africa on Thursday 13 April and the couple are unable to afford the cost of flying him back, which is about R20 000. This includes his flight, chipping, innoculation, neutering, permits and handling. “We are financially in a bit of trouble and don’t want to leave him there, we want to bring him home,” said Eva.
If you would like to help bring the little loving feline home, e-mail stanley@topwebdesigns.co.za for banking details.
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