Abandoned cats settle in at Dubai cafe
The owner of the Cat Cafe in the UAE says her project is a safe haven for homeless cats abandoned by their owners, giving them a chance to find new homes through adoption.
A space with small furniture seems at first glance to be a kids’ corner but is actually a café with seats, beds and small wooden houses for 15 cats at the Cat Café.
This project in Arjan, in the east of the Emirate of Dubai is not the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirates. The Ailuromania Cat Café, in the Jumeirah tourist area in western Dubai, is frequented by many residents, citizens and tourists in the UAE.
Cat Café director Nisreen Battal told Al-Monitor that the success of the Ailuromania Cat Café motivated others to open similar projects to rescue abandoned cats. "Instead of leaving them on the streets exposed to danger, diseases and even death, the project aims to rescue them and put them in a space where they are provided with psychological and physical comfort.”
Battal has always rescued stray animals, especially cats whose owners got tired of them or left the country, because "domestic cats do not know how to take care of themselves" in the wild.
