By Ian MacFarlaine
A look at how the Kismet Account came into existence, and how it works now.
Working with Kismet.
In 1984 Patricia Dymock visited Tunisia on holiday. She quickly became devoted to a group of stray cats living in her hotel and returned to Tunisia after her holiday to bring a kitten she had encountered back to the UK.
Patricia wrote the story down in a book – the Kismet Account – and used the proceeds to fund animal welfare work overseas, through donations to SPANA and directly through her own project, also called the Kismet Account. Kismet, the kitten she repatriated, lived for 16 years and daily inspired Pat to keep working for animals overseas
I first met Pat and became involved with Kismet Account in 2002. I had previously volunteered for Friends of the Ferals, and my own work experience, as a VN, dog warden and feral cat trapper pushed me heavily toward a role in this type of work. By the time I met her, Pat was becoming increasingly frail from the cancer which she had been fighting for a number of years. It had been some time since Pat was herself well enough to be able to attend overseas trips and she desparately needed someone to organise things for her on the ground in Gran Canaria. She had recently sent a vet and nurse out to the Algarve, but was concerned that they had little control over the animals coming in, as a result of which the vet ended up providing what she described as an “elective abortion clinic for the pets of rich ex-pats”.
We were put in touch with several complexes in the Puerto Rico area of Gran Canaria, and arrived 6 weeks after putting the visit together. This visit was an effective – but painful lesson in how important it is to work with EVERYONE when you visit an overseas location for animal neutering. Our local contact had in fact been ousted from her position within the local charities and as a result, in an island full of stray cats we were struggling to find enough to neuter.
The other lesson we learned is that when a hotel owner tells you he has seventy cats living on site, don’t be surprised if there are really only seven.
We returned to the UK with a large quantity of unused medication and equipment because we had neutered only half the number of cats that we were expecting. Undaunted, Pat and myself planned the next visit, as we felt sure that with the help of the many contacts we had made, we could be more successful. My only regret is that sadly, Pat died before she could see the fruits of our efforts.
Kismet today.
Today Kismet Account is one of the most prolific overseas cat neutering charities. By the end of 2004 we expect to have neutered over 800 animals in the 12 months from Jan to December. We currently work on a ongoing basis in Gran Canaria and The Algarve, sending two teams per year to each location, each team neutering between 120 and 250 each visit. Dogs are not forgotten and with the recent purchase of an anaesthetic trolley and partnership with two local charities we are hoping to offer neutering services on a more regular basis in the Algarve.
With the help of local co-ordinators, we work alongside pretty much every local charity, vet and organisation in the areas where we have operated. We were the first visiting group to work in a facility provided by Government, the first to have Government officers coming out to help us trap cats, and the first to have local vets and nurses neutering as part of our team.
Our trips in the last few years have taken us to Medina Del Campo, Cadiz, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Portugal. In June this year we will be working in partnership with Twinkle Trust to provide the first visiting team in Gibraltar. While neutering remains a key objective, raising awareness of the problem and training local volunteers how to use traps and equipment correctly (and thus catch more cats from each group) remains an important goal. A classic example of this is the situation in Gran Canaria, where, prior to our involvement very few vets offered discounts for feral cat work. Today, as a result of a greater awareness of the need to neuter, most vets in the south of the island will spay a female feral cat for around €42 (£28).
The welfare of animals and vets on our trips remains a priority and by and large we do not exceed 40 cats sterilised per day. This means that we only use the better equipment, traps and cages, and this prevents cats excaping, being mixed up, or waiting an eternity for their ops. We also try to give the vets and volunteers a half day or full day off in each trip, as we consider it a real shame for volunteers to return from such a trip having not seen any of the place where they were working. As a result, most of our volunteers are willing to pay their own fares and over 60% return for at least one more trip (some twice a year).
From my own point of view, the workload and momentum of running such a project are momentous. At the outset of my involvement a friend predicted that the thing would snowball and it surely has. Barely a day goes by without receiving contacts from people who have visited abroad, and no sooner is one trip over than the next is in the advanced planning stages, and the organisation of each trip is a huge task. I currently share Kismet’s workload with Pam Booker, the overall co-ordinator, who takes care of much of the correspondence and much of the financial aspect of the group.
Even so, I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. I have met some of the most fantastic people, both among our own volunteers and those who give up their lives for a week overseas to join with us. It’s sometimes sobering to look at the record sheets (and we keep a written record of each and every animal attended) and recognise an animal which you have trapped yourself or has made an impact. It serves as a timely reminder that this wonderful and life-changing thing began with just one very small kitten, and one woman’s determination.
