From the turmoil of war to a protected new home
A young Ukrainian woman gathers all her courage and flees from Kharkov to Vienna with the help of a bus company. She sets off with the bare essentials. She carries a transport box containing her two cats. One of them is heavily pregnant. The escape succeeds.
"What is happening in my homeland right now is unimaginable".
She feels safe now, but thinks sadly of her loved ones back home.
From Vienna, she travels to Salzburg, where she is accommodated in a small room with her two cats.
She gets used to 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 room, which is about 15m2 in size. Unfortunately, the highly pregnant cat Elektra could not stay with her.
"When I learned about the lady and her situation, I immediately knew we had to help!"
(Dieter Ehrengruber)
At the moment, 450 Ukrainian refugees are living in the Salzburg hotel with their dogs, cats and parrots. The animals are allowed to be in the hotel, but the rooms are not too big and a pregnant cat is not wanted. So we were asked if we could take Elektra in.
In a flash action, the animal rescuers from Gut Aiderbichl brought 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 take care of themselves, the mother cat will return to the owner. The young cats would then be taken over 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 her arrival, 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 would not let anyone see her kittens. Elektra retreated with her babies into a cosy cave and lied down quietly and protectively in front of her sleeping babies.
Unfortunately, one of the kittens might have had a congenital heart defect and died after two days. In the meantime, Elektra makes her first excursions with her kittens to mum's food bowl.
They come on quiet paws like messengers of silence, and gently, very gently, they creep into our heart and occupy it forever with all their might.
- Eleanor Gualdi
Elektra has all "paws" full with her three kittens. We wish the little cat family all the best and that the little kittens get nice, loving new homes. Elektra will spend the rest of her life with her owner.
