Samantha Garai’s compassion and love for animals have always been a part of her life. As a child, Garai’s mother worked at Bayworld which provided a perfect backdrop for educating her children about all kinds of animals.
“As children, we grew up with cats, dogs, budgies, goldfish, hamsters, guinea pigs and snakes,” said Garai.
This integral part of her upbringing had far-reaching consequences. Garai’s single-minded dedication to the plight of feral cats in our city is astounding. She works solo at feeding, trapping, and sterilising a number of feral cat colonies in Central.
“There are just so many feral cats out there, all over the city,” she said.
Although Samantha is well aware of the importance of feral cats, which serve an important role in deterring rat, mice, and cockroach infestations, she highlights the importance of keeping the number of feral cats under control.
The remarkable work she does speaks for itself.
“A female cat can have three litters a year, and four to six kittens per litter. Last year I sterilised enough female cats to prevent more than 1 000 new kittens being born into a miserable life on the streets.”
Even though this task is not always an easy one, and the responsibility is at times overwhelming, she is propelled daily by her devotion to animals when she ponders and bears witness to the constant threats the cats face daily, including disease, harsh weather, reckless drivers and humans who view them as pests, among others.
And so, the feral cats’ days, mostly characterised by a constant search for food and shelter, are in certain respects not so unlike those of people like Garai.
Creating a safe haven through speaking for, and acting on behalf of, these voiceless animals is a daily struggle or, as Garai puts it, “the work is a double-edged sword”.
“I like knowing that the ones I feed every day are getting a daily meal. If any of them need vet treatment, I trap them and take them to the vet. So, I feel good about knowing they’re taken care of, but it also makes me sad that they live on the streets.
“When the weather is really bad, I worry terribly about them and all the others I don’t know about. It takes an emotional toll on one’s soul. It’s tiring and draining, and the things we see in the field can be really heartbreaking. It can get to a point where it’s emotionally too much. But once we’ve started, we can’t stop. We have to keep going!” said Garai.
Educating the community about being responsible for pet ownership is key, and getting the community involved is vital. The few fieldworkers for the size of our city, and compared to the sheer number of feral cats, is a huge problem.
“The community can assist by volunteering as field workers, feeding feral colonies, trapping, raising funds for sterilising ferals, and donating food. There is also a desperate need for capable foster homes for kittens that are removed and need to be homed,” Garai advises.
She used to be affiliated with Cat Rescue while they were still an active organisation. Having assisted Cat Care with field cases in the past, they also help her sterilise the cats she traps. Each organisation has different adoption agreements.
“If someone adopts from me, the adoption fee includes the first vaccination and compulsory sterilisation at five to six months,” says Garai.
Garai considers herself fortunate to live in the close-knit community of Richmond Hill in which most people value their pets and look out for each other.
“I love seeing all the people walking their dogs here in the suburb.”
It was, after all, Gandhi who believed a nation’s moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
In between her work with the feral cats, Garai has a position at an accounting and auditing firm, a side hustle selling thrift clothing at markets, and she also organises charity events in aid of animals. She is evidently a do-er, a staunch advocate for animal rights, a devoted individual who – sometimes unknowingly – educates those around her through the way she lives her life.
“In the midst of it all, I try to spend as much time at home with my own animals chilling,” she says, but adds with a smile. “I say that, but I don’t ever really chill.”
