2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
Dr.
Friz and Her Valiant Spay/Neuter Campaign
Dr. Dorothea Friz is a German
veterinarian working tirelessly to help control the dog and cat
population. She is trying to jump start spaying and neutering in
Southern Italy in spite of the many obstacles that are put in front of
her. Hooray for Dr. Friz!
The first campaign was in 2004 and 55 cats (37 female and 18 male) were spayed/neutered!
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.... Here is the rest of her latest report.
Study
Results: Management of feral domestic cats
in the urban environment of Rome (Italy)
Here is a study showing that Trap-Neuter-Return Study
Results is
making inroads on the size of the feral cat population in Rome and its
vicinity. We thank the authors for their work even though we think
their conclusion is not strong enough in recognizing that after only 3
years the feral cat population has started to decrease, what about
after 6 years or ten years. A difference is being made, thanks to the
hard work of the people at Torre Argentina, Piramide and other managed
colonies in Rome, Dorothea Friz and her spay-mobile and the Public
Health vets. We at FORC are also participating in this effort both with
money and our humane traps.in the urban environment of Rome (Italy)
Spay
and Neuter Campaign in Ladispoli,
Region of Campania/Italy December 2004
Region of Campania/Italy December 2004
The first campaign was in 2004 and 55 cats (37 female and 18 male) were spayed/neutered!
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.... Here is the rest of her latest report.
Posted 1/1/06
The Pope Who Loves Cats
There are cat lovers through out the world; the new Pope, Benedict XVI, is certainly one of them. His passion for cats has received a lot of publicity since he was chosen to succeed John Paul II as Pope. Stories abound how he visits Rome’s street cats, and how they respond to him.
He has shown particular attention to a colony of cats that live in a cemetery near Campasanto Teutonica, a German-language church not far from St Peter’s, where he used to deliver sermons when he was a cardinal. German theologian Konrad Baumgartner described one visit. The cemetery “was full of cats and when he went out they all ran to him. They knew him and loved him. He stood there petting some and talking to them for quite a long while.”
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said that the Pope talks to cats whenever he sees them, “Every time he met a cat he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time." Bertone wondered if the Pope used a special language to talk to cats. “I tried to understand the language he used with cats, who were always enchanted when he met them. I thought maybe it was a Bavarian dialect. I don’t know." Bertone told of one occasion when 10 cats started following the cardinal into the Vatican but they were stopped by one of the Swiss Guards who protect the Vatican.
Apparently he has loved cats all his life as has his brother Georg Ratzinger who lives in the German town of Regensburg. Together they have an extensive collection of cat plates and a statue of a cat stands in the garden of the Regensburg house Cardinal Ratzinger had planned to retire to before he was chosen Pope.
Following the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul, who was the first pope to declare that “animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brothers," the pope has spoken out for animals in general. He calls animals “creatures of (God’s) will, creatures we must respect as companions in creation and as important elements in the creation.” While he does not go as far as to say people should not eat animals, he is against turning animals into a commodity for the benefit of people.
One unanswered question is whether he supports spaying and neutering street cats to humanely reduce their population. According to Silvia Viviani, one of the founders of Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary in Rome, there is a woman who has been caring for and sterilizing the Vatican’s homeless cats. Silvia hopes that the Pope will someday hold an audience for Rome’s homeless cat caretakers. We will keep you posted!
2005 Blessings Party
Special thanks to Randy Randall, the facilities manager of our venue; his friendly assistance is greatly appreciated.
Many meows and purrs to our patrons:
Maria Alioto, Linda Beatie, Lynn Befra, Lynn Drum, Kimberly Fonner, Steve Gold, Bill Hamilton, Jan Jerabek, and Kathleen & Vincent Lawton
A very big Mille Grazie to our generous donors! Please show your support by patronizing them. If you would like to inquire about purchasing cat art, ceramics or jewelry, let us know and we will help connect you to an artist.
There are cat lovers through out the world; the new Pope, Benedict XVI, is certainly one of them. His passion for cats has received a lot of publicity since he was chosen to succeed John Paul II as Pope. Stories abound how he visits Rome’s street cats, and how they respond to him.
He has shown particular attention to a colony of cats that live in a cemetery near Campasanto Teutonica, a German-language church not far from St Peter’s, where he used to deliver sermons when he was a cardinal. German theologian Konrad Baumgartner described one visit. The cemetery “was full of cats and when he went out they all ran to him. They knew him and loved him. He stood there petting some and talking to them for quite a long while.”
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said that the Pope talks to cats whenever he sees them, “Every time he met a cat he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time." Bertone wondered if the Pope used a special language to talk to cats. “I tried to understand the language he used with cats, who were always enchanted when he met them. I thought maybe it was a Bavarian dialect. I don’t know." Bertone told of one occasion when 10 cats started following the cardinal into the Vatican but they were stopped by one of the Swiss Guards who protect the Vatican.
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Apparently he has loved cats all his life as has his brother Georg Ratzinger who lives in the German town of Regensburg. Together they have an extensive collection of cat plates and a statue of a cat stands in the garden of the Regensburg house Cardinal Ratzinger had planned to retire to before he was chosen Pope.
Following the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul, who was the first pope to declare that “animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brothers," the pope has spoken out for animals in general. He calls animals “creatures of (God’s) will, creatures we must respect as companions in creation and as important elements in the creation.” While he does not go as far as to say people should not eat animals, he is against turning animals into a commodity for the benefit of people.
One unanswered question is whether he supports spaying and neutering street cats to humanely reduce their population. According to Silvia Viviani, one of the founders of Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary in Rome, there is a woman who has been caring for and sterilizing the Vatican’s homeless cats. Silvia hopes that the Pope will someday hold an audience for Rome’s homeless cat caretakers. We will keep you posted!
2005 Blessings Party
The 2005 Blessings Party was a
huge success this year. It was held in the banquet room of San
Francisco’s Ebenezer Lutheran Church on Portola Drive. The weather was
not in our favor (it rained all day and into the night), but that did
not deter our cat loving patrons from attending. Sadly, the board
members regret that we did not take any photos at this year’s party! I
hope this description suffices. Pam Carroll (thank you so much for your
hard work Pam!) and Frog Gilmore and Ted Humphrey came early to set up
the tables and cute decorations. Susan, Mary and Lisa coordinated the
auction items and various other preparations. We took our color scheme
for the party from the Italian flag. Red, white and green
balloons and streamers adorned the pillars in the room and there were
lovely flower arrangements on the eating tables. Cat paw prints ran up
and down the columns in the hall and paw print confetti scampered
across the tables. Romantic Italian music played in the background.
Michael Clark worked his magic in the kitchen preparing his usual
delicious spread of hors d oeuvres. Others contributed food as
well. Of course all edibles were vegetarian and many were also vegan.
The equally charismatic Marion Rappe and Chris Ennis were our
bartenders for the party, serving what else but Italian soda and wine.
We received wonderful donations again this year (see list of donors
below). It was hard to tell what the most popular items were
because they were all so nice. There were beautiful etchings, paintings
and cartoons, large colorful pottery pieces and figures, painted tiles
and masks…wine baskets, restaurant gift certificates, useful gift
baskets (for cat, dog and people pampering), exquisite handmade
jewelry…so many!
The evening ended with readings
from Frog Gilmore (on being a dog mommy) and Mary Kennedy
(Starfishes). Both pieces reflect our love of animals and why we
have devoted ourselves to helping them.
Special thanks to Randy Randall, the facilities manager of our venue; his friendly assistance is greatly appreciated.
Many meows and purrs to our patrons:
Maria Alioto, Linda Beatie, Lynn Befra, Lynn Drum, Kimberly Fonner, Steve Gold, Bill Hamilton, Jan Jerabek, and Kathleen & Vincent Lawton
A very big Mille Grazie to our generous donors! Please show your support by patronizing them. If you would like to inquire about purchasing cat art, ceramics or jewelry, let us know and we will help connect you to an artist.
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After our very successful 2004 Blessings Party in February, FORC combined with another animal welfare nonprofit, Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, www.fsfacc.org, to have an evening of mostly classical music to raise money for animals, titled, “A Musical Ark”. It was held on April 23d at Ebenezer Lutheran Church in San Francisco.
A group of extremely talented performers participated, donating their talents. Among those performing was the gifted mezzo-soprano Rosalie Szabo, baritones Jonathan Clark and William Hamilton, harpist Janice Ortega and David Neuman accompanying on piano. Two groups deserve extra special appreciation: the first consists of three talented young performers, Caitlin Martin, Kenneth Renshaw and Henry Burnam who make up the Tritone Trio. They performed “The Comic Cat Duet” 9attrib. to Rossini) and “The Dancing Cat”. The second special guest, Mary Davies Orfield, closed the evening with such popular songs as “Talk to the Animals” and “The Chicken Song” which brought down the house. Mary Orfield has been performing on radio and television as well as in front of live audiences in Minnesota for over 50 years. She came a long way to perform and she is the mother of Mary Kennedy, the secretary of Friends of Roman Cats mother. Bravissimi ai tutti! See you all next year.
On June 19th and 20, Friends of Roman Cats again had a booth at the North Beach Street Fair in San Francisco. It was a successful and enjoyable two days. Thanks to our volunteers Joann Kipness, Frog Gilmore and Julia Gasparini, as well as Board members Lisa for the flyers, Mary and Susan for sitting at the table.
And finally, at Pet Pride Day on October 24, 2004, we were awarded a special Declaration recognizing the work FORC has done to help homeless cats in Italy and the U.S.
Remember that you don't have to wait for a street fair to buy our lovely cards and cat magnets. Please check our Catalog.
Posted 7/11/04
A friend writes: The Travel Editor/Staff Writer for the Seattle Times visited Rome last year and wrote a very nice item on Torre Argentina. I came across it quite by accident (it was republished last weekend in a Kansas City newspaper and one of my co-workers, who I've told about Torre Argentina , pulled the piece; I then tracked it down to its source).
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For more information, please contact: Susan Wheeler: rappwhee(at)aol.com or
Mary Kennedy: marezie(at)comcast.net