Kuwait: Garbage Cats

The Area: Hawally is a dirty area that used to be the Palestinian district of Kuwait. However, all 400,00 of them were forcefully kicked out of Kuwait after the Gulf War, due to Yasser Arafat’s support of Saddam Hussein. Hawally has stayed true to its expat roots and now houses (Indians, Bangladeshi’s, Egyptians and a small collection of Westerners). Cars overflow on the roads, sidewalks are non-existent and garbage blows freely on the streets. New dumpsters were purchased in 2013 for the street corners, creating new habitats for the feral cats. 

The Cats: Why are there so many cats in Kuwait? The story goes that after the Gulf War in 1990, many public services were destroyed. As the garbage began to stack up and rot in the streets, the rats took over. The solution was to bring in Egyptian cats. The cats rid the streets of vermin and then started to multiply in numbers. The cats have stayed and flourished, due to a never ending supply of garbage. I have yet to see a single rat in Kuwait thanks to the garbage cats. 

Rambo - RIP (Sept 2003 - Jan 2014)

Rambo Spending Time with Family - Beatrice (Top Left), Rupert (Bottom Left) and Cindy (Bottom Right)

Weasel R. King (KNES School Cat)

Randy Houser 

Jimmy 

Lucy 

Luuucy

Adopted Garbage Kittens that Colleagues Rescued - Penny (left) and Heinz (right)