How a cat shelter in Rarotonga is encouraging people to 'learn a little bit of empathy’

A Rarotonga charity is teaching empathy for animals to young Cook Islanders, one kitten at a time.

The Paws and Claws Cat Sanctuary started up a 'cuddles and hugs' day on Sundays to encourage the community to learn more about cats and how to properly care for them.

It has been a popular afternoon outing for locals and tourists alike, according to sanctuary manager Shannon Paul.

This is the newest community outreach initiative for the charity which has been up and running since August 2023.

The success of the 'cuddles and hugs' day has led to the charity receiving funding from the New Zealand high commission to construct an interactive learning center to further connect with the community.

Paul is ecstatic and says she looks forward to facilitating programs for school students, encouraging hands on education.

"We'll be inviting schools down once that's built and leaving the young ones to handle the kittens and see what the cats are about and learn a little bit of empathy that will roll on into their later life."

The importance of neutering pets will be an aspect taught in these programs.

The sanctuary hosted four free desexing clinics in 2023 in association with Te Are Manu vet clinic, in a movement to reduce the number of unwanted kittens born each year.

"I think with education will come understanding about the desexing and why it's necessary to keep the cat numbers down."

Highlighting the importance of desexing pets, the charity shared a fun fact that "one breedable female cat and her offspring can theoretically produce 420,000 kittens over a seven-year period."

Last Christmas Paul found herself caring for close to 100 unwanted kittens.

"I remember sitting there Christmas day thinking, will they ever find them homes?"

Once the kittens were old enough, they were spayed and the sanctuary managed to adopt them all out.

67 kittens were in the sanctuary these holidays and Paul hopes to find them all homes soon.

She dreams of the day when the sanctuary will no longer be needed and unwanted pets will be a thing of the past.

Their goal is to see over 80 percent of Rarotonga felines desexed in the next five years so the facility can offer other services.

"Hopefully when we educate everybody about desexing, we won't have as many kittens in there and we can build more spaces to board cats and kittens."

Extension work to the sanctuary is currently underway and the construction of the interactive learning hub is set to begin in the next 2 months.