Student Spot Light- DePourche’ McNeil

The Makeshift  Humane Society of Morocco

Before embarking on my journey to Morocco, I had to make sure I had a series of vaccinations. One of which was the rabies vaccine, it wasn’t a necessary vaccine but if you know me you’ll know I LOVE animals. I’d call myself the new age Dr. Dolittle considering I have three different species of pets at home. I didn’t end up getting the vaccine but instead was told “just don’t touch any stray animals”, I didn’t know just how hard that would be for me here. Arriving in Morocco, almost instantly I noticed the mass amounts of stray cats and dogs. Being a cat mom myself, my heart broke into a million pieces seeing month-old kittens with mange suffering from malnutrition. I ultimately had to go against what I was advised (within reason) and help any cat/kitten that was drawn to me. One time, my friends and I were on a class break and drinking our etay outside when this little black kitten began to follow us. His soft meows combined with his big blue eyes caused tears to well up in my eyes and I just knew I had to do something for him. We all gathered around him, giving him water, food, and TLC. I was and am always careful about claws and biting to ensure no harm is brought upon me from lending a helping hand. The little kitty was so sweet! And even after we helped him, he followed us all the way back to the center. I tried to secretly bring him into the center, but in the end, we thought it was best to leave him in the courtyard of the CIEE center in the shade so he wouldn’t be hot. When we came back he was gone, I was sad but also glad he was comfortable enough to let us help him. I thought it was insane for these mass amounts of stray cats and dogs to line the streets of the Medina, but I had to remember that back in America many are very comfortable with mass populations of homeless people lining the streets. Both are on such a level that it is very difficult to come up with any humane solutions. While there is a culture of collectivism here in Morocco, I wonder if that could ever extend to the wildlife diversity that lives here.