Ruminations

The Life-Saving Exploits of Old Cat

"In the past few days my line was always busy. Each day I received hundreds of requests and had to visit 20 to 30 households."
"They [the household pets] were all very scared and stressed. Some cats were extremely short of food and water."
"Of course I'm scared [of contracting the coronavirus], but just by thinking that the cats would starve to death if we didn't go, I can't just leave them there."
"The volunteers on our team, me included, have saved more than 1,000 pets since Jan. 25."
"My conservative estimate is that around 5,000 are still trapped, and they may die of starvation in the coming days."
Lao Mao, veterinarian, on-line pet community Wuhan Pet Life

"I never met their owners in person or had any deeper interactions. They trusted me and gave their keys to me, and I need to be responsible and repay their trust."
"Honestly, it is tiring. Of course I'm afraid. But if I dare to leave my house for work, I can leave my house for this as well."
"I see them as my own kittens, and treat this as a serious task."
Yang Ying, 50, Wuhan Pet Life management team

"In Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Wuhan, Shanxi, Shanghai there are reports of local government orders for street dog culling out of fear that the animals might transmit the coronavirus."
"According to the World Health Organization, there is no evidence that pet dogs or cats can be infected with the virus, and medical experts in China have spoken out against blaming dogs and cats for spreading the illness. Humane Society International urges pet owners around the world not to abandon their pets as a response to this outbreak."
"In the meantime, animal advocates in China are rescuing abandoned pets and informing the public that dogs and cats do not pose a risk. Humane Society International has been supporting Chinese groups in coordinating public education efforts since the Wuhan coronavirus broke out."Humane Society International (HSI)

One man claimed that his pet cat (pictured) was buried alive when his house was disinfected while he was being quarantined in hospital because of the coronavirus outbreak

Wuhan Pet Life is operated as an online resource for pet owners by 43-year-old veterinarian Shuai Lihua who has earned the fond nickname 'Old Cat' (Lao Mao) from his many admirers. Working with him are six volunteers. And he and his volunteers have responded to a desperate situation that has developed for household pets left alone during the coronairus quarantine that has locked down Wuhan, the capital city of 11-million inhabitants in Hubei province, the epicentre of China's COVID-19 epidemic.

He and his rescue squad have managed to save several thousand pets from starvation when their owners, under quarantine have been unable to return to look after their pets' welfare. According to Lao Mao, about 20,000 animals have been left at home alone with no one to care for them, once the quarantine was tightened on the city on January 23 -- at a time when many of its residents had left to visit with family during Chinese Lunar New Year, an annual custom in China.

Travel curbs left people unable to return to their city of Wuhan, leaving their pets stranded. Owner of a pet hospital, Lao Mao is familiar with animal rescue, he has been doing just that for the past 13 years. So he decided he would do what he could to help in the situation, once he began receiving calls from frantic animal owners stranded and unable to return home. Lao Mao and his rescue team have saved thousands of pets so far, 99 percent of which were cats, 0.5 percent dogs, the remainder rabbits and hamsters.

There were too many cats to be accommodated, once his home became crowded with the rescues, leaving the veterinarian with little choice but to leave sufficient food and water for each of the cats in their homes for a calculated month. In most instances the rescues were successful, but there were cases when the team discovered they were too late on arrival. Kittens had starved to death, or cats had perished following a difficult labour.

There were many times when Lao Mao, not possessing a key to gain entrance to a home, had to fend for himself to gain often awkward, difficult, and no doubt illegal, access. For the most part, however, pet owners were able to get their keys delivered to him, or they sent their password to him for their homes' locks. It is the high volume of rescues that places him at risk, however, of the coronavirus that has killed over a thousand people nationwide thus far and infected 80,000.

The feeding and care of these temporarily adopted cats is complicated in a city where private vehicles remain banned as a critical measure of the quarantine. The owner of a cat who eventually contacted Lao Mao for help on February 3 had planned his return home for January 27. According to his calculations, he would be safe leaving food until the day of return. "When I went there to fill food and water for the cat, it stuck very close to me. It drank water for more than 10 seconds when usually cats just drink for two to three seconds", explained Old Cat.