From the chaos of war to a protected new home
A young Ukrainian woman plucks up all her courage and flees from Kharkov to Vienna with the help of a bus company. She sets off with the bare essentials. She is carrying a transport box containing her two cats. One of them is heavily pregnant. The escape is successful.
"What's happening in my home country right now is unimaginable"
She feels safe now, but thinks sadly of her loved ones back home.
From Vienna, the journey takes her to the basic care centre in Salzburg. She moves into a small room with her two cats and gets used to the peace and quiet and the care of the Caritas and Red Cross staff.
Due to the high occupancy rate of the refugee centre, it can happen at any time that more people are taken into the approx. 15m2 room at any time. The heavily pregnant cat Elektra unfortunately could not stay with her.
"When I heard about the lady and her situation, I immediately realised that we had to help!"
(Dieter Ehrengruber)
The hotel in Salzburg is currently home to 450 Ukrainian refugees with their dogs, cats and parrots. The animals are allowed in the hotel, but the rooms are not very large and a pregnant cat is not wanted. So we were asked if we could take in Elektra.
In a blitz the animal rescuers from Gut Aiderbichl picked up Elektra and took her to the prepared cat room in Henndorf. It was agreed with the owner that she could of course visit her cat. As soon as the kittens are old enough and can look after themselves, the mother cat will return to the owner. The young cats would then be released for placement by Gut Aiderbichl.
I am very happy that Elektra is allowed to give birth to her kittens in such a wonderful place...
(Cat owner)
Two days after arriving, Elektra gave birth to four kittens. They are two girls and two boys. Their colouring is predominantly black, grey and white. At first, the mother cat was very stressed and didn’t really let anyone see her kittens. Elektra retreated to a cosy den with her kittens and lshelteredherselfprotectively and quietly in front of her sleeping kittens.
Unfortunately, a girl cat may have had a congenital heart defect,and died after two days. Elektra is now making her first trips to mum’sfood bowl with her little ones.
They come on quiet paws like messengers of silence, and gently, very gently, they sneak into our hearts and occupy them forever with all their might.
– Eleonore Gualdi
Elektra has all “paws“full to do with her three kittens. We wish the little cat family all the best, and that the little kittens get beautiful, loving new homes. Elektra will spend the rest of her life with her owner.
