Vis is a beautiful tourist destination enhanced by charming street cats, but what happens to street cats when the tourists leave? It’s not pretty.
Cats who’ve become dependent on food from tourists and local restaurants open only during tourist season are suddenly left without this vital resource. Cats suffer, become sick, weak, maybe die, or they become an extra burden to locals who struggle to feed street cats year-round.
Intentional cruelty is even worse: read about Levis, a street cat who was shot with an airgun in May of 2019, just before tourist season. His story has a happy ending, but sadly, shooting cats with airguns is sport for some deranged people, and not all cats survive.
Other sad realities include inhumane methods of population control that are as old as time. We won’t go into detail on that, but will say once again that the only humane method of population control is TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return). And sterilizing street cats on Vis is free, so there’s no excuse not to!
If you need help getting a cat to the vet for sterilizing, contact us at streetcatsofvis@gmail.com or on social media.
