When I helped edit the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul and …D*g Lover’s Soul books, we had several stories of d*gs being rescued overseas and brought back to the states. But on the cat-side, there were very few such stories--yet I knew there must be some out there.

So I was gratified when I read a recent newspaper article celebrating the “cat lady” who rescues cats in Iraq and sends them home to England. In the Associated Press article, the woman identified as Louise is quoted as saying, “Some people buy flash cards, others flash clothes. But it’s my animals that float my boat.”

Simba, one of the cats who escaped from Iraq

She’s managed to send home five cats and two dogs from Bagdad, at an average cost of $3500 each, funded by donations and what she can sell on Ebay. You can see more pictures and read the story here

Many of the Western companies located in Iraq have cats and d*gs living in their compounds. But according to some authorities, there are no established groups working in Iraq to rescue or care for small animals needing homes. Veterinarians have been targeted and so fled to save their own lives. Fearing the spread of rabies, the military hired contractors to serve in an animal control capacity to round up and euthanized strays.

The stray cats in our own country at least have a chance of being adopted.

Louise wades through mountains of paperwork in Iraq and again in England where her imported pets must spend six months in quarantine. But for Simba al-Tikriti and the other kitties that have been rescued, the work and the wait are worth it.