Written by Anneke Malan, Chairperson of NCat
Professional photography by Tania Cholwich Photography
This is a feel-good story, but like many feel-good stories, it begins badly…
Maya was found in a rubbish bin with her siblings. The tiny tuxedo kitten was the only survivor. We won’t dwell on how they came to be there or who’d left them there. Rather, we’ll look at what happened to Maya after she was rescued. Because then her luck changed completely.
Her kind saviours took her to the home of Joanne Kontaxopoulos-Rabe, founder of Harties Feral Cat Rescue. This truly remarkable woman and her team have taken care of the community cats in the greater Hartbeespoort Dam area in South Africa since 2016.
Even though Joanne (better known as Jo to her colleagues and many admirers) was already drowning in rescued kittens, she took Maya in without a moment’s hesitation. And, although Maya was barely clinging to life, Jo was determined to pull her through. And she did!
After lovingly nursing Maya back to health and happiness, Jo decided that she was ready to join the other kittens that were up for adoption. But there was a problem. None of the kind people who came to adopt kittens noticed Maya. It seemed as though she was simply not remarkable enough – the other kittens always seemed to outshine her.
But then one day, a special lady named Marieta Van Der Walt came to adopt a kitten. A wonderful thing happened – she really, really SAW Maya! In that moment, Maya’s future was decided. She’d go home with Marietta, and the two of them would live happily ever after.
They’ve been loving one another ever since.
Marieta, Maya’s new owner, shares...
In June 2020, I tragically lost my beautiful ginger “Lion” Maximus at the age of 13 and, by August, I realised I had the need in my broken heart for a new baby. It had to be a girl, and she had to be at least eight weeks old. And so, the search began, I asked around and was referred to Joanne at Harties Feral Cat Rescue.
Joanne informed me she had only one female kitten, who was approximately nine weeks old, and three males, which were a bit younger. She sent me photos of the kittens, and the black-and-white one immediately “spoke” to me. Joanne let me know that this was the female, by which time I was already drawn to her. I had to meet this little girl!
During my interview she was extremely shy and, at one stage, I was beginning to think that it wasn’t going to work out. I was extremely disappointed as she didn’t want to come near me. I persisted and eventually got a tiny glimpse of who this beautiful little black-an-white girl is. Needless to say, by the time I left the interview, I was in love. To my joy, I received the green light to fetch her the next day.
I could hardly sleep and battled to work on the big day!
Words can’t describe the happiness, love and joy Maya brought to my life from Day One. She healed my very broken heart. The first night was hard, as she hid under my bed and would only come out for food. Using all my spare linen I filled the gaps around the bed, forcing her to spend time with me. The rest is history…
Tiny as she is, Maya is as fearless and brave as a lioness. Everything she does is with the vigour of a kitty who knows that life has given her a second chance. She’s not afraid of thunder, lightning, or rain, only coming in during a storm because mommy insists on it. She climbs the highest trees and even takes on nine Grey Loerie birds at a time (they just laugh at her and hop from one branch to another because she’s pretty much the same size as they are).
Her favourite toy? Of all things… a fresh green bean. Whenever I’m in the kitchen, she’ll come from outside and cry in front of the fridge until she’s given a green bean; this she then plays with until only small pieces are left.
Maya’s capacity for love and being loved, kissed, and cuddled is endless, and she sleeps in my arm under the covers. Even in summer, when it gets too hot to handle, she’ll still try and cuddle. She never, ever tires of being kissed on her head, in her neck and behind her ears. Her happy place is on my chest, in my arms with her head nestled into my neck. I don’t really know who loves this more, she or I…
After more than two years, she still melts my heart with one look of those dark-green eyes, and there are days that I don’t want to leave her to go to work (because she really needs me to rather stay home with her and cuddle), and I’m always looking forward to getting home and being welcomed with her unconditional love.
She’s one of the biggest reasons I get up in the mornings and take on whatever the day throws my way.
Words to sum her up: loveable, needy, feisty, mischievous, funny… and the light of my life!
About Harties Feral Cat Rescue
Of course, Maya is only one of the thousands of kittens and cats that Harties Feral Cat Rescue have helped since their inception in 2017. Their achievements are myriad. Caring for approximately 1,200 community cats in the Harties area, they’ve already sterilised over 4,000 as far away as Brits and Rustenburg. This in itself is truly an almost super-human achievement! They’ve also homed 500 kittens rescued from their colonies.
The organisation is a fully volunteer-run, registered non-profit, public benefit organisation devoted to stopping the uncontrolled breeding of free-roaming cats.
Their vision is to live in a community where no kittens are born on the street and where no free-roaming cats lack food, water and shelter. Their mission is “to improve the lives of feral cats and eliminate the suffering of uncontrolled breeding by humanely trapping, neutering and returning (TNR) them to their outdoor homes”.
“We’ll never give up the fight to provide them with a better life,” they vow.
Can you help Harties Feral Cat Rescue? Contact them on 072 681 5556, email info@hartiesferalcats.co.za or visit https://hartiesferalcats.co.za/donate/ .
