Till recently, President of Noah’s Ark Ipoh, Norfazilatun Mohd Zin, couldn’t keep pets due to asthma.
“One day I rescued a cat and my asthma attacks stopped! I promised then to be of service to stray animals,” shares the Imperial International School Ipoh teacher
These days, she fosters up to 20 cats at home.
“It was difficult to let anyone adopt them but I realized I mustn’t get too attached.”
Registered as an NGO in 2011, Noah’s Ark is run by 11 committee members and volunteers.
The animal welfare organization focuses on stray animal population control carried out through a Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage method. It also subsidizes half the spaying/neutering cost for pet owners who cannot afford it.
Having to rely on public donations, its situation was dire during the pandemic.
“We had workers to pay and animals to feed and provide medical attention…Funds from Yayasan Hasanah were incredibly helpful,” Norfazilatun recalls.
The height of the pandemic saw an influx of animal abandonment and later speculations that stray animals could spread COVID-19 to humans. As people got lonely at home, adoption rates skyrocketed but when movement restrictions were relaxed, once again pets were being abandoned.
Norfazilatun’s hopes for the future is that “animals lovers will walk the talk, being responsible pet owners and playing a role in helping stray animals too.”
Indeed, in Mahatma Gandhi’s famous words, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
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