Some tourists fall crazily in love with the cats of Stone Town and pay hundreds of dollars to take a kitten home. On the other hand, Zanzibar is struggling to keep the numbers of wild cats at bay. The “Paka Clinic” in Mombasa takes care of both.

Our entry seems staged. When the metal door of the Paka Clinic in Mombasa opens, a black cat crosses just in front of the car from the left to the right. I make a note to check if this means good or bad luck. Eva Styner, 68, with an ultra-short haircut, greets me and leads me upstairs to the operating room where cats are being neutered. Veterinary Dr. Goodluck Gaudance is operating on an elderly cat with skin cancer. Tiny instruments lay sterilised on a piece of cotton.

The clinic catches and sterilises about 60-75 cats per month, 700 per year. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. According to one statistic, historic Stone Town may well harbour about 2,000 cats on one square kilometre. That’s the same cat density Jerusalem registers, said to have 240,000 of them in its boundaries - one of the highest cat populations in the world. In Europe, Romania has the most cats. In Germany, love for kittens has made them pet No. 1 before dogs and birds, with 15 million cats in a conutry of 80 million people.

In Zanzibar, neutering is often paid for by hotels and restaurants. In Stone Town, the Paka clinic with its foundation “Nature Care” and eight employees acts on its own account. “I can’t see animals suffer”, says Styne, who came to Zanzibar twenty years ago from Switzerland and founded the clinic after her retirement. Married to Salum Lukman, the owner of a famous backpacker restaurant here, she had been working as a biologist in Bern for the Swiss government and international organisations. “It’s better to spy females than to castrate male cats”, she knows, “it has a higher impact”.

Why not leave the cats alone?

The procedure has become easier and more sophisticated over the years: a tiny cut on the tummy, uterus and ovaries are removed, internal and external stitches complete the 15-minute surgery, explains vet Gaudance. The questions looming behind it are larger: is such human intervention called for? Why not leave cats – who after all hunt rats, mice, and even snakes – to roam and multiply freely? “Cats are household pets, not wild animals”, biologist Styner points out correctly. 

But she has more to say: “Of course, cats are part of the ecosystem and the cycle of life, and we would never castrate all of them.” It would not be possible either. Studies have shown that cat control interventions reach a maximum of about 75 percent of cats in a targeted area. 

“It’s a continuous effort”, says Eva Styner, “because new cats come up all the time”. A cat gives birth to multiple kittens up to three times per year, a cat pregnancy lasts 60-70 days. But studies have also shown that in high-density cat areas, infectious diseases including toxoplasmosis (potentially dangerous for pregnant women) and the malnourishment of cats increase. 

“Vets don’t kill cats”

“Cats themselves suffer, when the density is too high, weaker cats don’t get enough food and are often injured”, the clinic director explains while cuddling half a dozen cats presently awaiting new owners in the clinic. “The older they get the harder it becomes to find new owners”, she says.

“Trap-neuter-return” is the philosophy of the Paka clinic’s street cat approach to keeping the population within healthy dimensions. “We do not capture and kill cats,” says Styner; “that’s against the ethos of a vet.”

Besides street patrols, the clinic takes care of sick cats, provides boarding when cat owners are on holiday and clears the way for “international adoptions”. International adoptions? “Tourists fall in love with a particular street cat during holidays, we prepare them to be taken abroad, neutered and vaccinated”, says Eva Styner. Presently she is planning “Cat Tours” and even a “Cat Coffee house” in a historic location near the new Malindi fishmarket. The cat tour will explain more about the feline creatures, first domesticated by Egyptians in the 15th century BC. It will elaborate on why they are Islam’s favourite pet, allowed to roam the mosques whereas dogs – poor creatures! -  are considered “impure”. The prophet himself was a cat lover, it is said. Much cited is an anecdote when he’d rather cut the sleeve of his kaftan than to disturb a cat having a nap on it. And what about the black cat myth? For most Europeans and Americans, a black cat means bad luck. Germans are more particular: Only when crossing your path from right to left is it a symbol of bad fortune. Phew – we are fine!

Cat control  in Fumba

The Paka Clinic will carry out a 3-step cat control plan for Fumba Town, the seaside community, to live in harmony with and not to be disturbed by cats.

Step 1: No feeding near the tables in restaurants

Step 2: Define two or more cat feeding stations near residences where cats will be fed, collected for neutering, and returned

Step 3: Residents and cat lovers will feed the cats once per day at the stations.

Information and donations: 

www.pakaclinic.com