A safe place for cats in Syria's war zone

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1 A safe place for cats in Syria's war zone By Agence France-Presse, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 988 Level 1040L Image 1. Mohammed Alaa al-jaleel pets cats near marble cubes used as houses at Ernesto's Cat Sanctuary that he runs in Kfar Naha, an opposition-held town in Aleppo province in Syria in March The 43-year-old, who grew up in Aleppo, has been crazy about cats since he was a boy. Photo: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images At an unlikely cat shelter in northern Syria, Mohammed Alaa al-jaleel gently holds a cat patient on her back. The cat will have kittens soon, and Jaleel is using an ultrasound device to find out how many there are and when they will be born. In a time of war, she is one of hundreds to have received medical attention at the animal health center in Kafr Naha. The town, located in Aleppo province, is controlled by rebels opposing the Syrian government. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 1

2 Syria's civil war has been going on for seven years. The country's government is fighting various rebel groups. It began in 2011 when many Syrian people took to the streets to protest the government of President Bashar Assad. The Assad government violently crushed the protests. Since the fighting began, more than 400,000 people have been killed. More than 5 million refugees have left Syria. About 6 million others are displaced inside Syria. The war has spun into a confusing game of air strikes, attacks, rebels and extremist fighters. War Did Not Stop Him From Helping Cats "If you want to show mercy to people, start by showing mercy to everything else," Jaleel says. He runs Ernesto's Cat Sanctuary, named after his favorite furry friend. The 43-year-old, who grew up in Syria's second-largest city Aleppo, has been a fan of cats since he was a boy. As a young adult in the city, he would drop by the butcher shop on his way home from work as an electrician. He would ask for scraps to feed street cats in his neighborhood. When war broke out in 2011, he put down his tools to become an ambulance driver to help transport wounded people. He never stopped bringing food to his cat friends, though. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 2

3 As the war raged on and people fled the city, with many leaving their pets behind, Jaleel was left with 170 cats to feed and a new nickname, the Cat Man of Aleppo. Two Cats And A Vegetable Basket With the help of donations from friends and social media fans, he set up his first cat shelter in the city. Then, in late 2016, the Syrian government escalated its deadly bombardment of Aleppo's rebelheld neighborhoods. The government wanted to regain control of the whole city. "We started fleeing from neighborhood to neighborhood until, in the end, we escaped the city altogether," Jaleel recalls. Determined not to leave them behind, he and fellow cat fans managed to save 22 of the city's cats. "We gave each family two cats in a plastic vegetable basket," Jaleel says. Among them was Sukhoi, named after the stealth fighter jets of the Syrian government's ally Russia. Russia has been supporting Assad and his government, while the United States has supported some of the rebels. "He would zip in and grab food from right under the noses of the other cats, just like a Sukhoi jet," Jaleel says. Cats Have Mini Homes In The Shelter Syria's war has forced more than half its pre-war human population to flee their homes. Many of its cats and dogs and other pets have had to leave home as well. After fleeing Aleppo, Jaleel set up his second shelter, named after Ernesto, in early He housed 18 of the 22 rescued cats in the animal oasis. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 3

4 "The cats don't just stay in just one house. They swap with each other and sleep in all of them," Jaleel says, referring to rows of marble cubes with cat-sized entrances, engraved with names like Pouncer and Rose. Animals Are Treated For Free Nearby, a grinder churns out streams of bright pink meat. The meat is then scooped out onto plates spread out on the ground for lunchtime. Eyes closed, a cat with a stripy, light ash coat dips its snow-white nose in, nibbling away. The shelter, financed by online crowdfunding campaigns, does more than provide twice-daily meals. It also serves as an animal health center with its in-house veterinarian. "We treat all sorts of animals here for free, horses, cows and even chickens," Jaleel says. In January, he and his co-workers counted and discovered they had handed out 7,000 medical prescriptions for free in less than a year. Mohammad Watar was surprised when he brought in his cat for treatment after food poisoning. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 4

5 "There are no vets where I live," he says. He asked people and they directed him to the animal health center. "I was so surprised to find this kind of thing existed during this war we're all living," Watar says. "I saw them treating all sorts of animals. It's really beautiful." War Injuries Don't Just Happen To Humans Still, war is never far away, and the center's main building bears the marks of gunfire. Last month, it canceled a children's party after a shooting took place near the shelter, according to its English-language Facebook page. Even the shelter's cats are treated for war wounds, says the center's vet, Mohammed Yusuf. "Just like many people are wounded by all the different weapons in the area, animals too suffer the same injuries," he says. Some stay under observation at the health center for weeks, but not all get the treatment they need. Because of the war, there is not always enough medicine for all the animals, Yusuf says. In a time of death and destruction, the pride of the health center is its ability to care for animal mothers-to-be. The staff uses medical equipment to see how many kittens the animals are going to have. They also determine when they will be born, Yusuf says. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 5