What a day of highs and lows. We were at the Harris's near Caylus at the appointed time to pick up the cats. Mr Harris has suffered a very severe stroke which amongst other things means he has lost most of his sight. Mrs Harris insisted she carried the two cat boxes to the car and loaded them, she said it was the last thing she could do for her beloved cats. She turned and walked sobbing back to the house. Malc and I drove off both with tears in our eyes.
We arrived at refuge of Danielle Diczi, a Swiss lady who has lived near Castelnau Montratier since about 2002. She runs a refuge "association la mère aux bètes"
First things first we unloaded Molly and Spider and took them to their new home, a very large cage, half in hut , half in the fresh air, loads of scratching pads and boxes and surprisingly the cats came out of their cat boxes and immediately began to explore. We left them looking happy and went off to discuss their future. Danielle proposed as they were seven and should be kept together, she would like to keep them.
In a week when they are used to their surroundings she will let them out and they can stay in house or barn or any of the empty niches. With 5 hectares miles away from anywhere to roam we felt this was a lovely option for them and agreed we thought the Harris's would be pleased with that choice. Danielle had been deeply moved by the unfolding events and like Malc and I felt something needed to be done to help. Before she started work with animals Danielle worked in Far East doing humanitarian work (so that is perhaps why she showed such empathy)
Sadly we were so busy asking questions and looking around we did not even think to take pictures.
We do know she has some beautiful kittens and their young mother, just come in and if you were interested the cost would only be to cover chipping and vaccinations and if you wanted to give a small donation that would gratefully be received.
We also noticed two beautiful chocolate labradors who have also just arrived. A complicated history but these dogs which had they been sold would have been worth well over 1,000 euros each, as pedigrees. They will be found homes chipped and vaccinated but the new owners will not receive the pedigree papers so they cannot be sold on.
So is this Swiss French speaking women accredited in anyway?
The refuge is accredited by the SPA, Society for protection of animals.
I asked her how she started with the refuge and she explained as an Inspector for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation she was forever seeing pitiful cases which she then took in to rehome and re educate and it then grew and grew.
We were a bit disturbed by a beautiful white dog, not sure of the race / breed which kept barking, making her jump up, shout arrete and then put a light sprinkling of water from a hose onto it.
We must have looked horrified as she explained the dog had been abandoned as the owners could not stand it constantly barking. She needed to stop it barking before it could be offered for adoption.
Another story we liked was, by the house was a huge cage filled with pigeons. These she explained were from a Buddhist retreat in the Dordogne and in a weeks time she will let them out to roost in a nearby tree where she will feed them.
Ann Grose will be interested in her reaction to vaccinations. She agreed totally with everything Anne stated in her mail here on TAG and also said in her professional role she had seen so many animals being poisoned by the over use of vaccines, she felt it was positively criminal.
For a cat entering a cat refuge it was a different matter.
A little dog whilst we were talking had made friends with Malc and Danielle explained it had been taken because of cruel treatment from some gypsies. Malc wanted to bring it home, but Danielle said why not take a few! which did make Malc change his tune.
So if you need a cat or dog think about phoning Danielle 0565219450 or look up the website Assoc. la mère aux bètes, or email prince.chambord@wanadoo.fr
We were suprised that it only took an hour from Caylus, we had thought it a longer run. We will certainly be supporting Danielle after this.
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