The Abandoned Cat Island of Brazil

One can easily observe the stark division of the social media world between dog lovers and cat lovers. Videos after videos of innocent pets doing crazy stuff, go viral on the internet. Some even become such a big sensation that they break the internet and are immortalised as the legends of modern-day society. 

So strong is the human bond with pets, that we have dedicated songs, stories, movies even memorials for our little animal friends. But all is not good and sunny in the pet life. Many pets are treated in the most inhumane ways, they are abandoned, sold, forgotten and left to die alone. 

Our cruelty on these voiceless animals is not something unheard of, yet it is heart-wrenching to see that we still let the perpetrators, of unimaginable pain on these animals, continue their gory acts of inconsideration and apathy with absolute callousness. This is a story of one of such acts, where we have yet again, collectively proven, that to be born as a human does not always come with being humane. 


What Is Cat Island?

There is a small island off the coast of Brazil, officially named Ilha Furtado, it is popularly known as Ilha dos Gatos, which translates roughly into the ‘Island of Cats’. From far it looks deserted and alien, almost motionless among the tireless waves of the ocean. 

It is only on a closer look, that one gets to observe the sheer action and life being nurtured in the trenches of the island. However, it is not one of those stories of a faraway island brimming with life and biodiversity, on the contrary, the life on this island is quite monotonous, and anything but diverse. 

The island, true to its name, is brimming with cats. But don't get fooled, the island is not some paradise for endangered cats. It is an abandonment centre for the cats who are no longer loved and wanted by their owners. The island of cats is the place where many cat owners abandon their pets forever. 

It is where all the happy and fairy tales end and the ugly side of humanity emerges. Yet, for a long period, it was not a big problem. People used to leave their pet cats on the island, but the nearby tourists used to feed them while going near the island for fishing. However, everything worsened, to a great extent, when in the last year, the pandemic hit the already fragile nation of Brazil. 

The Fatal Pandemic

Pandemic hit the South American nation brutally. Just a few months into the pandemic, and the Brazillian healthcare system was already showing signs of breakdown. The situation was made even more complex, with the unprecedented economic hardships being faced by the people, due to the callous behaviour of the Brazillian federal administration. 

The pandemic has already claimed more than 465000 lives and is yet to be subdued. In such a scenario it got extremely difficult for families to fetch for themselves, leave alone their pet cats. This led to an increased abandonment rate, as more and more families left their cats to fetch for themselves on the island. 

But, the miseries for the cats does not end here. The pandemic induced lockdowns, stopped all the tourist's activities near the island, drying out the only source of food these innocent animals had. The absolute grimness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the cats are now resorting to cannibalism to feed their grumping stomachs. It is an incident that shook the belief in humanity, for many. 

The Bigger Picture

The story of the Cat Island is of gross violations of fundamental respect we should have for one another, leave alone for animals, but it is far from being the only one. The list of our stories of cruelty is far too long to be captured into a single frame. 

Social media is filled with abhorrent acts of violence perpetrated, by many of those who claim to be human, just for the sadistic ‘fun’ they derive from it. The unsatiated human urge to establish himself as the supreme and all-powerful makes him do the most dreadful of the acts, but in fact, there can be no one as cowardly and spiritless as them. 

Strength is not established by subjugating the powerless, and in this case even the voiceless, on the contrary, it is proven by helping even the most back-trodden ones. Alas, we never seem to understand the basic nuances of being ‘Humane’.

It is indeed a terrorising story potent to wake even the conscience which is in deep slumber, but all it seems is that our conscience is dead, far too cold to be revived even by the shrieks of the most innocent and blameless animals. 

Written by - Piyush Pandey
Edited by - Akanksha Sharma