By Bejay Browne
Tala monastery cat park recently celebrated rehoming 1,000 of the islands stray and unwanted cats.
A surprise presentation took place at a local taverna and volunteers and fundraisers handed over a cheque for €2,000 as well as an award to facility managers Dawn Foote and husband Mark.
Since 2011, the pair have dedicated their lives to the cats and kittens at the park, a registered charity.
“We held a surprise presentation to celebrate the rehoming of one thousandth cat from the park. We aimed at collecting one euro for each of the re-homed cats, €1,000, but it was so successful that we were able to present Dawn and Mark with a cheque for €2,000,” supporters Alan and Jan Norman said.
The 1000th cat to be rehomed was an 18-year-old male cat named Kia, who was adopted by Jan Carter. He had been living at the park for around six years after his owner relocated to Australia and was advised that the flight and quarantine was not an option for him, and had no luck in finding him a new home.
“We have now reached 1,020 re-homes which we are very proud of,” the cat park manager told the Paphos Post, adding that she was caught unawares by the presentation. The funds donated are much needed as income has all but dried up due to a lack of events which have been scuppered by Covid-19 restrictions, she said.
An annual fair that was scheduled to take place earlier this year had to be cancelled and volunteers are now operating a stall at the duckpond market in Paphos every Sunday to sell as many of the goods earmarked for that event as possible.
One of the new ways the cat park is raising cash is through an online auction they have set up, she added.
The park relies on donations and sponsorship and annual running costs are in excess of €80,000. This includes costs for food, medication, vet bills, a programme of spaying and neutering and maintenance costs. All of the donations go towards looking after the cats and none of the staff are paid.
The cat park also has a ‘go get’ funding page, set up to raise as much money as possible and will be used to pay vet bills, and go towards food, medication, cat litter, sand and park maintenance.
“The pandemic has meant that the cat park is not able to receive the usual number of visitors and this affects the donations,” she said.
The facility, which will feature in an upcoming episode of ‘A home in the Sun,” is still desperate for volunteers and donated items.
The park currently has in excess of 850 cats and kittens needing homes.
Tala monastery cat park can be found on:
