JI visits Amsterdam's De Poezenboot

OK, it's not some mutant, furry water monster, but something called De Poezenboot, or Amsterdam's famous cat boat.

What? Cats and boats? Surely those don't mix. But along the placid banks of Singel Canal, De Poezenboot (literally, the Cat Boat) sways ever so gently that the 10 inhabitant cats there don't seem to mind being on water at all.

According to volunteer Gordon Catanya, who by the way is also a visual artist and one of Amsterdam's famous cat lovers, De Poezenboot takes in and takes care of the unwanted cats of Amsterdam, be they strays, old cats, sick cats or cats who were not housebroken by their former owners.

When you look at the residents of De Poezenboot, you'd think why on earth would someone not want these furry creatures--they're all so cute! But every one of them has a sad story to meow about.

For example, Candy, the prettiest female tri-colored cat was given up because she is not toilet-trained; Crazy Harry, the chubby tom, hisses and scratches once you touch him; Catsannova, whose the most popular tom among the female cats and weighs a whopping 22 pounds, was simply left behind by his owners; and Scary Spice, a quiet cat, is afraid of people.

"Some people are really mean," Mr. Catanya says. "They get a cat and they don't properly train them and they think nothing of leaving them behind when having a pet becomes inconvenient."

Some of these cats act weird because of cruel things some humans must have done to them, Mr. Catanya says.

The other cats, Aloha Girl, Mini, Sitar, Sarah, Garfield and Blacky couldn't agree more.

De Poezenboot currently survives on the kindness and goodwill of Amsterdam residents, as well as donations from tourists and other visitors. All its feline residents are spayed and neutered to prevent more stray kittens from wandering the streets of Amsterdam.

"I love cats," says Mr. Catanya. "That's why I take my work here very seriously."

But looking at him purring contentedly behind his desk, Mr. Catanya doesn't look like what he does is work. He sure looks like he's doing it all out of love.

And that's why the De Poezen-boot exists at all: because of the concern of some human beings for animals, particularly cats.

Wouldn't it be great to have something like De Poezenboot here in the Philippines?