2023-05-20 04:00:00
Very worried, Catherine Dussart wants to ensure the survival of theASBL Félin for the other. Created in 2017 in Tournai, the association is at a turning point in its existence. The president, accompanied by those in charge of the shelter, is actively looking for a new building to accommodate the many cats whose volunteers take care of each year. “The situation is urgent”she tells us.
The “Félin pour l’autre” refuge, which will go on sale at the end of May, is currently installed in Orcq (Tournai) in Catherine Dussart’s house. His state of health and his financial resources no longer allow him to carry out his missions. In the process of moving, she is appealing to help some 70 cats. She hopes to be able to find a solution as soon as possible.
Because for her, these felines have been her first passion since her earliest childhood. “I have always had cats. In this animal, I like his funny side like everyone else, his cuddly side and his independent side. He is less dependent on you than a dog. I like cats a little difficult ones, who have lost confidence in people for various reasons, and give them that confidence back. We want to socialize them when they’re not too wild. I want them to experience the happiness of living in a house. It’s more my hobby.”
A few years ago, Catherine Dussart proposed to another association to welcome cats into her home. “At some point I became a foster family because I had a shed that allowed me to take 20 to 25 cats. Then, with 2-3 families, we wanted to create our own association in my building”, she indicates.
In July 2017, the ASBL Félin pour l’autre was born. Its main mission: to help found, stray, wild, abandoned or sick cats in order to treat them and then find them a permanent family. “We also collaborate with the City of Tournai as part of their ‘sterilization of stray cats’ plan and help people who are not able to do the trapping themselves. We do not practice comfort euthanasia except if the state of health is seriously impaired and no other solution is possible”, says the president.
One figure particularly illustrates the extent of the work carried out by the shelter, which since its creation has cared for nearly 5,000 cats.
“For me, cats living on the street don’t deserve this life. Some people don’t realize that an abandoned cat can’t afford to find food like a wild cat. It’s quite different It’s the animal misery that makes us react. I would have liked to do all the animals, but we are content with cats, and we try to do things well. Everywhere in Belgium, there is an overpopulation and unfortunately, there There are people who don’t realize that a couple of unsterilized cats can bring a lot of kittens. We fight a lot for that and to change mentalities.”
The team is made up of around a hundred volunteers, who dedicate from a few hours a year to full time a week to managing the shelter (care, maintenance, collection, trapping, transporting cats, etc.).
“There is a team of volunteers who come every day of the year. There are no holidays here. They come every day to make the litter, wash the bowls, give care. It’s a daily investment of 4 hours in energy.In the evening, it is a friend or I who iron and give the evening medicines.We organize collections twice a month to meet food needs. We use social media a lot to make ourselves known., says Catherine Dussart.
To ensure the future of this refuge, a new building, in the form of a donation or a low-cost rental, with an area
of approximately 150m², is necessary.
“Last year, we did not find solutions with the banks and the association cannot help me either. Like a lot of associations, we do not have a lot of income (donations, adoptions ,…). There are subsidies from the City of Tournai because we take care of the sterilization of stray cats in the municipality for them. The Walloon Region also helps us, but the subsidies represent only 11% of our income. This is not enough to consider buying a building”, regrets Catherine Dussart.
And to add: “The association is financially sound, it’s just me, as the owner of the house, who can no longer assume all the charges that come with it.”
Without a transitional situation, the association cannot currently accommodate more than 70 cats, and a waiting list has formed. Catherine Dussart says she is particularly “worried”.
“There are requests almost every day. We are mainly looking for Tournai, but there are requests that come from Charleroi, Namur, Ixelles. When we can help elsewhere, we do so. But with subsidies from Tournai, it is normal to look for a building in Tournaisis. We would like to find a building big enough to start from scratch. Am I worried? If we don’t find a new place quickly, we will have to stop the pick-ups. What is worrying is that we don’t know where we are going. There are less cares, that’s clear. I’m not going to take new cats, if we don’t know where we can put them elsewhere afterwards. We visited some buildings, and rents of 1500 euros per month, it is not possible. We do not have the means. And we cannot afford to start work.
If you want to help the 63-year-old Tournaisian and the shelter managers, you can contact the non-profit organization on Facebook, by phone (0471 12 45 97) or by email via [email protected].
“We are waiting for proposals. It’s time for things to move. It’s a big hassle. It scares me, it hurts. I hope we’ll get over this bad course thanks to people committed to well-being animal. We are open to any help. At the moment, we are nowhere”, concludes Catherine Dussart.
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