SMALL STEPS TOWARDS HAPPINESS: OIPA GELA’S PROJECT TAKES SHAPE THANKS TO THE ACQUISITION OF A LAND WHERE THE FIRST SICILIAN FELINE OASIS WILL BE SET UP
The dream to realize the first feline oasis in Sicily is closer and closer. Thanks to all the support of OIPA’s readers and supporters, thanks to the continuous commitment of OIPA Gela’s tireless volunteers, a land has been acquired. This land will see a secure and cozy shelter set up for cats in trouble and waiting for adoptions. Works have just started to make the shelter habitable and “cat-proof”: instead of cages and confinement, a wide green space where shelter cabins will be perfectly integrated with the surrounding nature and cats will be able to freely move around, play or nap in the Sicilian sun.
The first cats to cross the oasis’ gate will be “historic” guests of the temporary shelter managed by OIPA Gela’s volunteers: old, sick or wild cats that, therefore, cannot be placed in a domestic reality. Doors will remain open for all those in trouble, from wounded cats to abandoned litters.
In front of a territorial reality where it seems that there is no room for cats protection, OIPA Gela’s feline oasis wants to be a bastion of solidarity and hope, a safe haven for all the invisible animals that keep suffering and dying in a general indifference.
You can choose to be on their side too and help us make this project a more and more concrete reality.
FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT OIPA’S FIRST FELINE OASIS IN SICILY
- MAKE A DONATION
- SEND MATERIAL
CURRENT SITUATION
If stray dogs are an actual social disease in Sicily (and unfortunately for some individuals, with the connivance of the municipalities, a 
source of income), cats are a completely invisible for institutions.
If you call the police or sanitary services, even for sick or wounded cats that need vet surgeries, they do not know what to answer and just say the problem is not of their competence.
Invisible animals? Not for the Blue Angels, OIPA’s volunteers, committed daily to tackle the numerous reports they receive every day on strays, sick cats, cat-moms that need sterilization and abandoned kittens needing milk.
OIPA’s volunteers are currently looking after 10 kittens, together with Giulietta, Eva, Jack, Fiammetta and many more, approximately 50 cats, many of which have been rescued on the streets in precarious health conditions. Because of the increasing number of stray dogs, they have become a real threat not only for litters and abandoned cats, but also for the most vulnerable cats in clowders. Therefore, they cannot always be reintroduced into their territory after having been cured and sterilized, especially if they are old or in bad health. This way, they have been welcomed in a protected and safe place, away from the risks they would have faced on the streets.
SUPPORT OIPA’S FELINE OASIS PROJECT
The idea is to create a real oasis in a desert of indifference, like the one that cats and their guardian angels, volunteers, see and live every day.
A feline oasis like the one you can see on the pictures, nothing particularly complex or highly expensive. In fact, a closed and secured ground and shelter kennels for cats waiting for adoptions are sufficient.
A safe shelter for them and a place that could also be both educational for citizens and an example for institutions that should realize that, with good will and little funds, creating a nice and welcoming place for cats and their visitors is possible.
For more information on the project and on the help you could give, please contact
Liliana Mistretta, OIPA Gela’s Delegate, Tel. 347 6118128, gela@oipa.org
Giorgia Savatta, OIPA Gela’s Vice delegate, Tel. 327 8224704, vice-gela@oipa.org
