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Do you have a story you would like to share with us?
In Memoriam: Ralph Syracuse Campbell
| Save
the date! Our 7th Annual Blessings Party and silent auction will be
held on March 1st 2008 from 6pm to 8:30pm. For the second year the
location will be held at the Museo Italo Americano at Fort Mason. Click here for their
website and directions. |
| Win a
week in beautiful Tuscany! Our wonderful artist donor Siglinda Scarpa
has offered one of her beautiful villas again. Click here to
see photos and read about it. |
 We at Friends of Roman Cats
wish to remember Phil Frank, inimitable cartoonist and wit. We
have delighted in his Farley cartoons for many years. When he named one
of his cat characters after one from the Golden Gate Park feral cat
colony "Il Gatto di Tutti Gatti" (the head, or capo of all the cats),
we were overjoyed. When we asked if he would donate a cartoon strip to
our Blessings yearly fundraiser, he graciously did. We will all
miss his humor, his obvious love of animals and his ability to
wonderfully depict so many of the foibles of daily life in the Bay Area. |
| Mugolina's wine tasting September 22nd was a success! Thank you to all who attended and those who made donations in their absence. Because of the funds raised, we will be able to donate more money to the shelters in Italy on the Cats and Culture tour! |
| FORC may be entering the blog world! Soon it may be easier to get FORC news and other animal interest updates. Stay tuned for more info. |
|
Last year Friends of Roman
Cats was given a wonderful gift of a week in a private house in a small
town inTuscany donated by Siglinda Scarpa, amarvelous Italian
artist, ceramicist and animal lover. We wish to thank her for her
generosity! You can find out more about her and her work at www.siglindascarpa.com.
Below
is a piece by the San Francisco woman who won the raffle of a week in
Siglind's house. The proceeds of the raffle went toour St Francis fund
for the medical needs of Bay Area feral cats. Here's her story....
|
| All of Us at Friends of
Roman Cats Raise glasses filled with virtual Bellinis in celebration of
the upcoming marriage of Cheryl Abbott and Robert Turnage In Las Vegas
on Sept 22d, 2007. Cheryl considered on coming on our Cats and Culture tour, held this coming October. She is obviously a great lover of Italy and cats. We wish her and her husband-to-be Robert, Buona Fortuna, Un Buon Matrimonio! May they find themselves at the real Bellagio in 2008. If you would care to make a donation to FORC in honor of the the happy couple, it can be sent to FORC. P.O Box, 12571, San Francisco, CA 94112. |
2007 Cats and Culture Tour
Save the dates: It's October 5-17, 2007, and will combine some of the best Italian cultural sites with some of its most interesting cat colonies. For all the details, click here.
The Cats & Culture Tour visited some remarkable shelters and organizations in Italy. Click here for some history and contact info for these caring groups and individuals. Also keep checking back for details of our next trip ... you can come with us!
(click here for larger view)
Notes From
The Friends Of Roman Cats|2006 Cats and Culture Tour
Out of a trip come many
stories. Here are a few of the stories from
Friends of Roman Cats’ Cats and Culture tour of Italy in 2006.  |
 People participated in this special cat tour for all sorts of reasons; most everyone who came is a cat lover, some work with cats and some write about them and study them. Everyone who came loves Italy, Italian food, wines and of course the ice cream. Tour attendees were intrigued to see the country from the perspective of how Italy’s stray and abandoned cats are treated and wanted to know more about Italy’s no-kill law.... |
Here's Susan's report from the the 2004 Cats & Culture Tour
as well as Denver Post article from April 2005 about the Tour.
in the urban environment of Rome (Italy)
by an animal loving Italian artist
Rosamund Clarke is a very special supporter of Friends of Roman Cats. Those of you who have bought our Christmas cards, come to one of our events or read our “Cats and Culture” brochures have enjoyed Rosamund’s lovely and whimsical cat artwork. She has recently started making personal animal portraits in her studio in Rome. You can send her a picture of your companion animal and she will create a very special portrait of your special friend. This is a sample of one of her portraits [click on picture to enlarge].
Two lucky people spent a week in an Italian Villa!
Two of our supporters spent a week in Tuscany
in November thanks to Siglinda Scarpa’s generous
donation of the use of her house there! Thank you,
Siglinda! Siglinda is a talented artist and potter
who generously supports animal welfare groups. If you would like
to rent one of Siglinda’s houses, check out her website at http://www.siglindascarpa.com.Dr. Friz and Her Valiant Spay/Neuter Campaign
Honor That Special Someone
St. Francis Fund
Click here for informational sheet and application ... more details to follow.
This trip's the cat's miao
Denver Post Travel Editor
Sunday, April 3, 2005
Dog-lovers, take heed: This is a column all about cats - cats and Italy, two subjects close to my heart. And, if you too are passionate about these topics, read on.
Friends of Roman Cats, a nonprofit San Francisco-based group dedicated to helping homeless and abandoned cats in Italy and the United States, has organized a "Cats and Culture" tour of Italy. And, with sandpapery, pink tongue in cheek, I've dubbed the tour Puss and the Boot.
The 12-day tour Oct. 5-17 combines top Italian cultural sites with interesting cat sites, including cat sanctuaries where homeless felines live out who-knows-how-many of their remaining nine lives....
(FORC)Bits
Dr. Friz and Her Valiant Spay/Neuter Campaign
See our CATalog for Fun Stuff and Note Cards
Claudio's Story - It's Why We're Involved
See our New Gallery of Past Events
We would
love to hear about your own animal blessings and will post as many
of them as we can. Here are some we'd like to share with
you.
Barbara Cheryl Geoff Leslie Linda Lynn
Mary Muriel
(FORC)Bits
Dr. Friz and Her Valiant Spay/Neuter Campaign!
SPAY AND NEUTER CAMPAIGN IN LADISPOLI, REGION OF
CAMPANIA/ITALY December 2004
Novembre 21st 2005 the second spay/neuter campaign for stray cats in Ladispoli started. The Town Council and the local Veterinary Services had been very impressed by our first visit in 2004 and decided to repeat the event in Ladispoli, a little town along the sea side north of Rome.
We arrived late due to the Roman traffic in the morning, but we started work around 10:30am with the first cats who had been trapped already over night. The veterinary ambulance was parked outside Ladispoli in the yard of the Protezione Civile (Civil Services) and we could use their bathrooms and a big room to prepare the animals before surgery and keep them warm in their wake-up cages for one night. The marvellous volunteers of Ladispoli never got tired to provide new cats in traps (the little town was literally covered in cats), and were even very keen on feeding us delicious food. One of the volunteers offered three guest rooms in her house nearby to stay overnight.
During the first week a vet from the public veterinary services ROMA D came every morning to help during the campaign. One of the vets took care of anaesthesia of the animals and the other two did surgery. The operations finished on Friday night. Saturday morning the Town of Ladispoli organized a meeting at the Town Hall open for the public. I gave a presentation about stray management, the participants had been very interested in. Right after we went back to Naples. I accompanied Julie Beanlands to the airport, she needed to go back to work. After a bit of rest on Sunday (answering the most important correspondence of one week, checking on problems in the centre with the staff, going for a walk with my own dogs who were very happy to see me once again) on Monday morning 5 o’clock Giuliano and me started again for Ladispoli, this time with a volunteer of LEGA PRO ANIMALE, Teresa. We stayed another three days until the cats did not go in the traps anymore, probably because of the very bad weather conditions.
All together on 7 working days we spayed/neutered 303 animals: 277 cats (163 female, 114 male) and 26 dogs (20 female and 6 male).
In conclusion I need to say that it is not enough to come once a year to spay/neuter the cats which can be caught. To see a difference in an area, to see the total number of cats dropped down, you need to work at least on 70 percent of all the cats (strays and private). We certainly did not reach this number. It would be convenient if the local state Veterinary Services finally start enforcing the law and offer free spaying/neutering of stray cats and those who belong to people with low income. Otherwise it would be sage to repeat a spay/neuter week in spring before the cats will start their heat cycles.
Dorothea Friz, DVM, president LEGA PRO ANIMALE
SPAY AND NEUTER WEEK IN SAN GIORGIO DEL SANNIO, PROVINCE
OF BENEVENTO REGION OF CAMPANIA/ITALY
Probably this has been the reason for the resistance of the public vets against me and the Mayor of San Giorgio, who wanted to accept our offer for free spaying and neutering of the stray animals there. This project might proof the real numbers of strays in the area. . . .
SPAY AND NEUTER CAMPAIGN OF ROMAN CATS – A PROJECT IN COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC VETERINARY SERVICES ROMA D, LEGA PRO ANIMALE, TORRE ARGENTINA, LA PIRAMIDE, AVAR FIUMICINO (ROMAN CAT PROTECTION LEAGUES)
Most of these cats are already spayed/neutered thanks to efforts of several animal protection organisations like Torre Argentina, Gatti della Piramide and especially to the engagement of the Public Veterinary Services ROMA D, but there are still areas where entire cat colonies are growing. Another big problem of the existing colonies is that people constantly abandon cats or the offspring of their pets there. Therefore, the Public Veterinary Services ROMA D years before started a programme offering free s/n to low-income people for their cats.
(larger view) Veteriarian Dorothea Friz |
(larger view) Dorothea and Emilio |
] Action Alerts [
This technically isn't an alert, but we wanted to
tell you about it anyway:
FORC
is excited to announce that we now have 52 (!) humane cat traps in
Italy. They are all being used to trap cats for spaying and
neutering. They are very popular and are in constant use. Many
more are needed, so if you would like to help with this wonderful
program, please check the Trap Appeal
information.
To view recent alerts, go to our Action Alert page
We now have notecards for sale, all proceeds go to benefit the work of FORC. The cards measure 5" x 7" and come with envelopes in packages of 10. The cost is $15 plus $1.28 sales tax and shipping is included.
 |
 |
 |
|
Rosamund Clarke |
original etching "Love Song to Galeno" |
original etching "The Winter Coat" |
If
you're interested in purchasing one or more of the above sets of cards,
please send a check for $16.28 ($15 + $1.28 sales tax) to
Friends of Roman Cats
P.O. Box 12571
San Francisco CA 94112
Check out our CATalog for cards and artwork.
If you have any questions, please write us at the above address
or e-mail Susan Wheeler at rappwheel@aol.com
or Mary Kennedy at marezie@appleisp.net.
FORC has a short-term goal of purchasing and delivering high quality humane cat traps to Rome this year. Anyone donating $75 or more can have their name, or the name of a special companion animal, affixed to the trap. Print out this form to learn more. [As of November 2004, the number delivered is close to 100! With your help we can send even more.]
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2001. Friends of Roman Cats (FORC) is dedicated to helping homeless and abandoned cats both in Italy and the United States. We believe there is a good fit between the 1991 law in Italy giving homeless cats the right to life, and the practical, hand-on solutions for which the American feral cat community is noted.
One of the inspirations for Friends of Roman Cats is the very forward-looking Italian law dealing with companion animals. It says that healthy stray cats and dogs cannot be put to death. Cats are to be left alone, to live their lives in whatever habitat they have chosen. The municipal veterinary authorities are responsible for spaying or neutering them.
FORC wishes highlight this law, and to thank a wonderful Italian-American supporter, Piera Bignetti, for translating it into English. The Italian law starts with its General Principles:
The State enforces and regulates the treatment of domestic animals, condemns any violence against them, condemns the bad treatment or the abandoning of them, with the aim to promote the cohabitation of humans and animals, and to promote public health and the environment.
Ever
wonder who St. Anthony Abbot is? Well, take a look.
 Torre Argentina
Volunteers
|
 Silvia Viviani, co-founder of Torre Argentina, with a new friend |
EVERY
CAT whether owned or not should have the right to life and whatever
care we can help it to find. We wish to help change the common view
here that the life of a feral cat is not worth living. We are
particularly inspired by one cat sanctuary in Rome known as Torre Argentina. Torre Argentina
not only cares for a large colony of homeless cats, it is trying to
create
a safety net for all of Roman cats.
Claudio's Story
as told to Kathy Dadey ( kdadey@altavista.com ),
with help from Susan Wheeler, Cheryl Sande and Deborah D’Allsendr
You've seen me -- or one just like me. We grace postcards, calendars and various pieces of thousand-year old statuary throughout Rome. My name is Claudio. I am a young, one-eyed cat that was found by a volunteer of the Torre Argentina cat sanctuary in a paper sack dropped off on the sidewalk near the sanctuary.
I
am
one of the lucky ones. After receiving vet care (yuck! but a necessary
evil,
I suppose) and a thorough cleaning (more yuck), 
I was given my own
space in the
sanctuary and as much clean water, food and litter that I could go
through! All the volunteers were so nice to me, and sometimes, people
visiting Rome would stop at the sanctuary and spend a little time. That
is especially important for us. We need
personal contact with people. We really appreciate people stopping down
(as the sanctuary is down, below street level), and petting us,
cuddling
us and making us 
feel loved (abandoned cats really need that -- imagine being put in a
sack by someone you trusted, then dropped off on the street -- but
that's my story; others are even worse).
I am one of the lucky ones. One of those visitors decided to take me home! I didn't really care for the plane ride, but now, I am "writing" this from a cozy blanket in a warm apartment in California. My "mom" tells all her friends what a gratifying experience (those are BIG words for a cat!) it was adopting me; how I have fit into her household so well, and that even if I don't understand English, the word "no" is the same in both languages (I'm not quite sure why THAT came up in any conversation).
But let me tell you about the ones that aren't as lucky as I am.
Cats
and Rome's ruins go back many years. 
Thousands
of Rome's abandoned cats and kittens have fled to the city's numerous
ruins over the years. In fact, the city has decreed that the cats may
stay at the ruins. Which is good. However, the city contributes nothing
to our care and we rely on the kind graces of volunteers and
visitors to our beautiful city.
I was lucky to be found (in that paper sack) and brought to the Torre Argentina cat. As I understand it, the sanctuary was founded in 1994 by former opera singer Silvia Viviani and retired career woman Lia Dequel to care for the cats in the Area Sacri di Largo Argentina. The Area, filled with Republican-era temples, is named after the medieval tower (torre) beside it and is home to more than 300 abandoned cats like me.
Torre
Argentina is located at the busy intersection of Via Arenula and Corso
Vittorio Emanuele, but many visitors never even notice us, despite the
fact that volunteers post signs welcoming tourists. Those who do
venture into the sanctuary are rewarded by a lively group of us felines
purring
welcome - and our volunteer caretakers. No cat lovers trip to Rome
should
be complete without a visit!
Yes, the Torre Argentina cats fare far better than many abandoned Roman cats, but even here, the average life span is significantly shorter than that of a pet cat. The sanctuary seems to be constantly battling poor living conditions (for us cats), government bureaucracy, and a chronic lack of funding.
Yes,
the Torre Argentina cats fare far better than many abandoned Roman
cats,
but even here, the average life span is significantly shorter that that
of
a pet cat. The sanctuary seems to be constantly battling poor
living
conditions (for us cats), government bureaucracy, and a chronic lack of
funding.
As
Nelson, our "spokes-cat" says, Please Help! And please come visit. Like
many
others, it could be the highlight of your trip to Rome!
|
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