The team.
Aitutaki Community Cat Program
Island gets much needed
veterinary care as result of
a chance meeting of
strangers
Story & photos supplied by Tomie Timon
Ever hear the saying: “How can one person help 100 cats?
Spay just one”? Taking that idea and putting it into action is
what happened in February of both 2018 and 2019.
Stephanie Joseph has been caring for the cats of Aitutaki for
years: stray cats, wild cats, owned cats, kittens and elderly cats.
She has helped so many with her skills and compassionate
ways, she truly epitomizes the love of animals. Steph has been
instrumental in getting animals to Rarotonga for desexing or
medical care. She fosters kittens and helps to get them adopted
to homes. She does all that with a very limited budget, but
somehow with her deep compassion, she makes it all work.
Steph truly is a force of nature for the Aitutaki Community and
its cats.
Enter Tomie Timon, an American, who met Steph while
visiting the island in 2017. An instant connection was made
with the two women having the same passion and caring spirit
for animals. A plan started to formulate to benefit the cats
and community of Aitutaki, with the goal of improving the
overall health of the island, the people and of course the cats.
Desexing helps to control the population of the cats, lessening
financial strain on families to provide for too many cats, and on
the island itself environmentally.
While keeping in contact with Steph, and working with Te
Are Manu Veterinary Clinic in Rarotonga, Tomie assembled
a veterinary team of two vets, one vet nurse and two assistants
and arrived on Aitutaki in February 2018, complete with all
equipment and supplies to desex and treat the cats of the island.
And treat they did. Steph played a pivotal role in promoting
and communicating with the islanders, helping to gather the
cats from homes, setting traps for the feral cats, and providing
SO much support for the team. Steph also created a raffle to
help promote the desexing and medical program. Everyone
who brought in a cat for treatment or desexing had their name
put in for prizes!
The local business and island community got behind the
program as well. Accommodation, island night entertainment,
sponsored
meals, car rental,
donations to
purchase traps and
pet carriers, and
a lagoon cruise
were all donated
by the local
businesses. The
islanders also were
very generous
and brought
many goodies for
the team to eat.
They were even
successfully taught
how to open fresh
coconuts to get
the refreshing
water!
Dr Adam with one of the goats to be desexed.
78 • Escape Magazine