The Catkeeper of Aleppo

September 19, 2016 2:23 PM

When hundreds of cats started to hang out in front of one man's apartment building in Aleppo, Syria, Mohammad Alaa Ajaleel decided it was his lot to take care of the cats of war. So the electrician-turned-ambulance driver built a cat sanctuary-slash-children's-playground amongst the rubble. “My role as a rescuer is not to differentiate between those who need help,” Aljaleel said. “To love the small, weak cats is to love everything.” Alaa's love is energetic: in the last months he's built a well to help his neighbors access clean water, saved a girl in his volunteer ambulance(content warning: graphic), and had multiple children's parties, inside when necessary, outside in the sanctuary when a cease-fire permitted it.

Alaa posts daily in a closed Facebook group, mostly photos of cats, children, and giveaways of toys, meat and sweets. Last month, the UK's Channel Four posted an extremely moving video about "the last garden center in Aleppo", and after the heroic gardener was killed, Alaa found, the man's orphans.

While his fans are campaigning for him to get a Nobel Peace Prize, Alaa's thoughts are a little nearer to the ground, this week writing on a photo post:

" اقوى الدول العظمه واقوى اسلحة العالم
😁 تحاصر قطط حلب الطف و ارق مخلوق
رسالة من القطط نحن صامدون وباقون
الحب و السلام تنتصر في النهاية بدنا نعيش

Despite the strongest nations and biggest armies in the world
besieging cats, tough and scrawny
message from the cats: We are steadfast and will remain.
Love and peace will prevail in the end. We want to live."

posted by hungrytiger (32 comments total)

This is a good man.
posted by adam hominem at 2:54 PM on September 19, 2016 [29 favorites]

I don't have Facebook, can anyone share the info on how to donate?
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:00 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Warning there's a photo of a guy dragging a dead dog 3/4 down the first link.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 3:13 PM on September 19, 2016

Somebody NEEDS to get Christopher Walken to do a sequel to "Dogs of War", as the aging mercenary from the first film who's sent to Syria and has his life changed by meeting Ala Ajaleel. Hollywood, have your people call my people.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:14 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Since the presence of one content warning might mislead folks into letting their guards down, there is a picture of animal related sadness near the bottom of the Newsweek "to take care of the cats of war" link.
posted by sparklemotion at 3:16 PM on September 19, 2016

I don't know about Isis, but surely Bast will favor this man.
posted by Apocryphon at 3:28 PM on September 19, 2016 [33 favorites]

I don't have a lot of insight into Syria or the refugee situation but I DO work with homeless people in the US every day, and have seen the incredible effect that pet ownership has on isolated, traumatized people.

One of my clients works 3-4 mornings a week works with feral cat colonies, dropping off food and trapping sick cats to get them medical care. So far he has adopted two senior cats and a couple other clients have also adopted cats that are too sick/old to be re-released. Cat ownership has drastically improved quality of life for the clients. More social interactions, better med compliance, reduced conflict with other residents. I know that research supports therapy animals but seeing the effects over the long term really are profound. The other type of animal I see adopted but clients that want therapy animals is rescue chihuahua-blends, which may have the same effect but are certainly not as charming as the senior cats.

Also the white cat in one of the Newsweek photos looks so much like my cat I can hear him meowing. When I get home and he is begging for wet food, having left a full bowl of dry food untouched, I'll say "there are cats in Syria who would LOVE your dry food!" but he is deaf and can't hear me and is also a cat, so I'll give him some wet food.

This is really wonderful, thanks for the post.
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:31 PM on September 19, 2016 [63 favorites]

Sorry about the Newsweek link!
posted by hungrytiger at 3:36 PM on September 19, 2016

Other people taking care of animals in desperate situations:

Naoto Matsumura, who stayed behind to tend to the animals near Fukushima

The Syrian Association for Rescuing Animals

Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
posted by hungrytiger at 3:55 PM on September 19, 2016 [10 favorites]

Be advised that if you google "Aleppo" you may encounter other disturbing content.
posted by uosuaq at 4:10 PM on September 19, 2016

How can one donate?
posted by stevedawg at 4:35 PM on September 19, 2016

Oh, I love this. I LOVE this! <3

There are heroes everywhere.
posted by triggerfinger at 4:40 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

@stevedawg you have to join the Facebook group and then ask the leader for her PayPal info. She won't make it public because if anyone writes the words Syria or Aleppo on the transfer her PayPal could get shut down. So she makes people ask individually for it to make sure they've read her FAQ about that.

The Facebook group is pretty amazing whether you want to donate or not...
posted by hungrytiger at 4:41 PM on September 19, 2016

sorry but - concerning the orphans of the flower grower - do not understand the sentence. did Alaa adopt them? help them?
posted by lapolla at 4:50 PM on September 19, 2016

@lapolla Alaa found the family and now the Gattaro d'Aleppo group (the Facebook group ) is supporting the gardener's family with food and trying to figure out if the oldest son can run a new garden center. I actually found out about Alaa because I was trying to find out what had happened to the gardener's son.
posted by hungrytiger at 4:59 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

I was thinking what kittensofthenight said. I have seen some of the most broken people in the world made whole again by having a pet to love and care for. I imagine there are many, many broken people in Syria and many abandoned animals.

May we see this awful, awful war end soon.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 5:20 PM on September 19, 2016 [15 favorites]

thank you, hungry tiger!
posted by lapolla at 5:52 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Somebody NEEDS to get Christopher Walken to do a sequel to "Dogs of War",

Shannon: [about his mercenaries] Everybody comes with me, goes home.

But they are home. 🙁
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:59 PM on September 19, 2016

This gives me hope, thank you for posting this, I needed to hear it today.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 6:22 PM on September 19, 2016

BRB, crying forever.
posted by Space Kitty at 6:49 PM on September 19, 2016 [6 favorites]

what is the word for sad and wonderful?
posted by vrakatar at 7:09 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

That's one of the best things I've read in a while.
posted by bongo_x at 7:53 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Not sure about sad and wonderful but I recently heard "brutiful" used as a portmanteau of brutal and beautiful
posted by hungrytiger at 8:08 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

The cats were just playing Pokemon Go
posted by wheelieman at 8:12 PM on September 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Verklempt
posted by triggerfinger at 9:22 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Dear Mr. Trump,
What kind of skittles would symbolize cats?
posted by DigDoug at 3:03 AM on September 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

Poignant?

Also: Oh, look, there are saints and heroes after all.
posted by seyirci at 5:06 AM on September 20, 2016

Thank you for posting this. This gives me so much hope – the Syrian people were among the most generous, open-hearted, and welcoming when I visited in 2010.

I had also visited Aleppo. Stayed in a hotel ran by a guy with a black-and-white tomcat. He was very proud of the cat (telling me stories how the cat disappeared for a couple of weeks a year ago and came back with a black-and-white kitten). And the cat was very proud of him. I think about the two of them regularly; and cry and cry and cry…. Frankly, I assumed the cat was eaten –it had been an incredibly hard 5 years in Aleppo.
posted by Dotty at 11:01 AM on September 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is heartbreaking, to read about the animals who still go back home to wait for their families. But I'm so glad that they are being cared for by somebody who cares. I cannot imagine the difficulty I'd have leaving my pets behind and not being able to secure their care.
posted by gilsonal at 11:12 PM on September 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Nobody has said eponysterical yet? Also thank you many times for news of goodness in this shitforsaken world.
posted by eggkeeper at 9:12 PM on September 21, 2016

any word as to how he is faring during the past few days? i think of him every time i look at the news.
posted by lapolla at 1:36 AM on September 24, 2016

He posted pictures of the cat feeding 6 hours ago to the FB group. And his ambulance suffered (minor?) damage.
posted by Mavri at 7:31 PM on September 24, 2016