“If we don’t take care of the cats, who will?”
By: Sama El feky & Dina Abdelgelil
Here in AUC, cats have become a vital part in our community. You will see them everywhere
from halls to classes, and more commonly near food vendors. So who takes care of these tiny
creatures? Throughout our investigation, we found a lot of holes missing in their caretakers
arguments. Whether the university takes care of them or not has always been questionable. Some
rumours indicate the administration pays tons of money to keep the cats safe and healthy. Others,
however, say that the security and the students themselves have to personally get food and water
daily in order for the cats to survive.
This concerns the AUC community as much as it involves the cats, as most people stop to stroke
and play with the cats. Cats need multiple injections and even surgeries annually in order to not
cause anyone any serious disease. As some cats have the ear pin, which means they have done
the needed surgery, while others don’t. One must wonder, are the cats really being taken care of
well enough?
Abdel Salam El Sayed Abdullah, 33, is one of the two men that takes care of the cats by bringing
them food, taking them to the vet for health checkups, and generally making sure they are safe.
Abdullah emphasises that he and his co-worker are responsible for every single cat that passes
the university’s gates, as they can’t be picky when it comes to such harmless animals. “Just
because some cats don’t have their ears cut off doesn't mean anything, we give food and offer
health treatment to all of them, our job is to help the cats be clean, healthy and safe for the AUC
community,” said Abdullah.
Pressing that AUC tries to put food at spots where cats can easily find them such as Bus Gate,
Pepsi Gate and HUSS, Abdullah thinks that the University is doing a great job regarding cats and
even so, workers don’t have a say in anything, as they are only doing what they are told to do.
Which brings up the question, why are these cats still so hungry? Multiple sources informed us
that the cats hang out around all food vendors lurking around for food. Yet, the guards say they
feed them quite regularly and take proper care of them. If cats are the university’s responsibility,
why are security guards and students still have to bring food and water for them?
Guard Mohamed Hussein, security guard of Bus Gate, says that some students actually bring him
food and milk everyday so he could feed the cats. When asked why he even bothers, he said, “If
we don’t take care of the cats, who will?”
While, Ahmed Tantawy bus gate security said that a mother cat recently gave birth in their
office. “We cleared out the room for her till she gave birth, then we had to put them outside
because of the smell” Tantawy said.
Cats giving birth in a security guard's room is both unsanitary for the cats as well as the guards.
The money supposedly spent on slightly improving these cats health conditions and life can be
allocated differently for a better use, like establishing a cat shelter/clinic.
Sociology Professor Nihad Al Fetooh says that cats have been a long tradition in the AUC
community. “At the tahrir campus there were a lot of cats” Fetooh mentioned. “… I think the
university even allocated a budget for feeding them” she continued.
After asking multiple sources from the department that is mainly responsible for the cats safety
and health, it’s clear that there were some questionable gaps that even they could not answer.
Mohamed Hassan, 55, is the Safety Manager of AUC, as in his main job is to make sure the
AUC community is living in a healthy and safe environment. Regarding specifically cats, Hassan
said that he coordinates between the clinic and the two workers that take care of the cats.
Hassanen also mentioned that the workers are trained to to treat the cats carefully, in a way that
the cats would eventually get used to them and like them so they would accept the food given to
them. Although when asked where they were trained, Hassan admitted that they were never
actually trained.
Even though he claimed that the amount of cat food comes out of the budget given to him by the
university. Hassan once again contradicted himself as he implied that he doesn’t have any idea
what the budget is. He emphasised that in any case the budget depends on the cats’ needs as even
if the budget ran out, the university still pays a lot of money to help the cats, meaning there is no
specific budget.
According to Hassan, AUC cooperates with a decent clinic to treat animals in terms of necessary
surgeries and injections. It decides its choice of a clinic based on organisation, dedication and
determination. “It costs around 5800 or 6000 pounds, including the medical operations that
occurred the past two months, three months make around 6000 pounds,” said Hassan
While the Safety and the Security department has taken the responsibility of the cats from the
AUC Ombuds Department only 6 months ago, change of clinics apparently happen often as the
university dealt with at least two new clinics in the past few months. After the lack of care from
Vet Surgeon Clinic, AUC changed to Pet Welfare Centre (PWC), which Hassan stressed is a lot
more expensive.
Hassan tried to clear the record on why some cats have their ears cut off and and some don’t. He
said that cats with ear marks are the only ones that have been under the knife. Changing his
answer again when asked about the rest of the cats, Hassan then claimed that not all cats that
have had the surgery have gotten the chance to have their ears cut off.
As Hassan kept contradicting himself on several occasions, it only made us more suspicious. A
simple cat issue seemed bigger than we ever expected, especially because he repeatedly kept
avoiding questions about the university’s budget regarding the cats. So we fairly tried to get
other sides of the story.
Mohamed Ebeid, Safety and Security Director, has already been the Security Director for a
while. The Safety, however, has been added to him just ten days ago so he is still getting familiar
with everything regarding cats.
Ebeid agreed to speak of what he does know, which is that AUC keeps up with the cats
constantly. If the department came across any sick cat, for instance, he decides whether the issue
is minor enough to treat it at the university or significant enough to be taken to the clinic for a
while.
“Once any animal has crossed the gates of campus in anyway, no matter how they got in, we can
never be cruel to such a creature, we’re not getting lazy or neglectful towards AUC cats, the
opposite in fact, we are only getting better,” said Ebeid.
Elaborating on the problem with the old clinic, Ebeid explained that there was a complaint
indeed as someone, a professor if he recalls, kept complaining that a cat was sick even after the
cat has been sent back and forth to that clinic.
Ebeid, however, denied any statements of the university paying too much money or even enough
money. “That’s not the case here, no, the money that’s paid on the animals is absolutely nothing,
the money is so insignificant, it’s not even worth mentioning,” Ebeid said. He insisted that the
clinic is as cheap as it gets, believing that it might even be a charity organisation that takes care
of animals in exchange of nothing.
While Ebeid finally answered us about the budget, he raised another angle of the story.
Apparently because the university barely pays any money for the cats’ sake, the department
indeed has to turn to a charity organisation. This wouldn't have been a problem if the cats just
were receiving the needed annual medical treatment, which is a serious problem.
Mohamed Osama, 36, is a doctor that works at the Pet Welfare Centre. He confirmed that the
AUC does cooperate with the centre to ensure the safety of the cats. It apparently only brings the
cats when they are sick so they don’t really take their needed annual shots. He elaborated that the
PWC is a 24 hours place of both accommodation and hospitalisation, including ultrasound,
x-rays, surgeries and intensive care, for stray animals.
Osama pressed that any animal that has already gone through the needed purification surgery and
injections should have the ear pin, as in the ear cut off mark, done as well. “How would you
differentiate between the ones that went through surgery and the ones that didn’t? It’s a
trademark and It’s a must,” said Osama.
The center is in fact a charity organization where, according to Osama, clients pay next to
nothing. Center PWC offers medical and social service for all public area surrounded with stray
animals, such as malls, hospitals, parks, schools and universities.
Considering how not all cats on campus have ear pins, It’s safe to assume that some cats can
cause some serious diseases to the university. Because the university allows entrance for any cat,
there is a risk on the AUC community.
While there is a common agreement on the idea that cats are a significant part of the university,
not all students are thrilled with their presence and how vastly they’re increasing.
Petroleum engineering student Bassel Ziad says these cats have even adapted tactics to persuade
students into feeding them. “They pretend they’re ill and start acting drowsy and meowing, once
you walk away they hop right on to their next target and start the act all over again” Ziad said.
At this rate, cats will completely dominate campus. Although most people enjoy their company,
not all students necessarily like cats or their presence. “Cats are disgusting and they make me
lose my appetite,” said student Haya Osama. “I never feed them but other people do, and that’s
why they stick around” She added that our campus is not a cat shelter, and that these cats should
be transferred to an actual shelter where they’ll be taken care of.
Other student Amira Samir says “Cats scare me. I know that they are animals and innocent souls
but that does not force me specifically to have to deal with. I would gladly donate money to a cat
shelter or even opening one next to campus. But having them creeping around really scares me
and it annoys me that the university not only lets this issue slide but also completely supports it,”
shared Samir.
The debate is ongoing and could reach no specific settlement because like most situations in life
there are pros and cons. As a university though, is it acceptable to basically foster cats?
According to a New York Times article titled Debate: Should pets be allowed in public places,
the only animals that shouldn’t be allowed in public places are those who portray clear threat to
the people they are surrounding. Under that umbrella, cats do not qualify as harmful animals. In
fact, they are known to be of the most peaceful animals alive. The only animals that are deemed
dangerous are dogs without a leash and anything from wildlife.
A couple of months back there was a stray dog that managed to get into campus and a lot of
students were frightened. The dog reportedly chased a girl through the parking lot at 8pm and
she nearly fainted from her fright.
In that particular scenario, security eventually got rid of the dog, even though he became quite
popular amongst some students.
But since the cats pose no particular threat to people’s safety, and the only complaints received
are those regarding people who don’t like cats in general, they are nurtured and cared for here on
campus.
In Ancient Egypt cats were considered sacred and were worshiped. They are important to the
Egyptian society and religion. Legend says they were even mummified and buried in the great
cemetery with the kings and queens. They were treated like royalty back then but that doesn’t
seem like the case now. The AUC administration seems to have left its responsibility of cats in
the hands of students, guards and even professors.