Jerry McKay, a 70-year-old British man who came to Taiwan 31 years ago, has spent most of his savings looking after and feeding more than 100 stray cats. Animal Rescue Team Taiwan (ARTT) has launched a Facebook campaign that attracted over 30,000 people in less than a day.
McKay, who lives in Greater Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District, started feeding stray cats more than 10 years ago in the area around where he lives. He now already has close to 100 regulars. McKay has also taken 16 of the weaker cats into his home, making him an indisputable Special Envoy for Cats. According to ARTT spokesperson Ni Ching-tai, McKay, who is not married and doesn’t have any kids, is getting older. The number of cats he is feeding is getting increasingly larger, and he is now finding it more and more difficult to afford the monthly food and vet bills. He is holding on, however, and relying on the paltry income he receives from his job as a lecturer for the Greater Kaohsiung Open University to continue feeding his cluster of cats.
McKay cares for each and every cat as if it were his own child, going out to the same place at a set time every day to feed them and cleaning up the area. As soon as they hear his footsteps, the stray cats flock around him. He has also given each and every cat a name.
Photo courtesy of Animal Rescue Team Taiwan
照片由台灣動物緊急救援小組提供
Even though McKay takes pleasure from feeding the stray cats, it has also caused tensions between him and people in the neighborhood, and he has been ostracized by neighbors who hate cats.
Many people have left comments on the ARTT Facebook campaign page, saying things like “love knows no borders” and “warmth and compassion from another country.” Money from online donors has gone to buying food, with a set monthly donation for McKay. The site for joint purchase of food is: www.savedogs.org/donation_networks/donation.html.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Paul Cooper)
七十歲英國人馬凱杰來台三十一年,花光積蓄照顧餵養上百隻流浪貓,台灣動物緊急救援小組在臉書上發起愛心行動,不到一天就吸引超過三萬名網友加入。
住在高雄林園的「馬爺爺」,十多年前開始在住家附近餵食流浪貓,現在已有近百隻成為固定「食客」,「馬爺爺」也在家中收容了十六隻比較弱勢的貓咪,成為不折不扣的貓咪使者。
台灣動物緊急救援小組發言人倪京台說,沒有結婚也沒有孩子的「馬爺爺」,隨著年事漸長,需要餵食的貓咪數量又越來越多,每個月的飼料與醫療費常壓得「馬爺爺」喘不過氣來,但他仍咬緊牙關,靠著在高雄市立空中大學擔任講師的微薄收入,繼續照顧餵養這群貓咪。
「馬爺爺」把每隻貓咪都當作自己的小孩呵護,每天固定時間地點前往餵食,並將環境清理乾淨;流浪貓咪一聽到「馬爺爺」的腳步聲,便蜂擁而至;「馬爺爺」也替每隻貓咪取了名字。
雖然餵食街貓帶給「馬爺爺」快樂,但也讓他和鄰居交惡,被一些討厭貓咪的左鄰右舍排擠。
台灣動物緊急救援小組在臉書上發起愛心行動,網友紛紛留言「愛心不分國界」、「來自異國的溫暖與大愛」,網友的捐款將購買飼料,每月固定捐助「馬爺爺」,團購飼料活動網址:www.savedogs.org/donation_networks/donation.html。
(自由時報記者葛祐豪)
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