Meet the Man Saving Cats From War and Earthquakes in Syria

This article originally appeared on VICE Arabia.

On the 6th of February, 2023, two powerful earthquakes struck south-central Turkey and northwestern Syria just a few hours apart from each other, killing over 50,000 people and leaving 2.2 million displaced. The earthquake also reached Aleppo, a city of 2.1 million people that’d already been heavily damaged during one of the fiercest battles of the Syrian Civil War, between 2012 and 2016.

Over the course of the following two weeks, paramedics and civil defence personnel worked hard to rescue people buried under the rubble. But of course, the earthquake trapped many animals under buildings, too. 

Mohammed Alaa Aljaleel has rescued over 30 cats hurt by the earthquake from the Aleppo governorate – especially from the town of Jenderes. Aljaleel is not new to this: Ever since the outbreak of the bloody conflict in Syria, he’s devoted his life to saving cats, and he’s now known as the “Cat Man of Aleppo”. Some of the cats he’s rescued still need treatment, others have made a full recovery. Aljaleel’s phone is constantly buzzing with calls about animals in need of help.

Aljaleel’s love for cats started in his early childhood. “I used to play with cats when I was little, but the events we’ve been living through in Syria made me want to use my love for cats for the good cause,” he says. His work began in earnest in the initial period of the conflict, around 2011, when Aljaleel started feeding his neighbourhood cats. Word clearly spread around in his local cat community, and he ended up with tens of cats gathering in front of his place every morning. 

Initially, Aljaleel was just taking care of pets left behind by owners who had to flee. But as the violence went on and on, he had to expand his operation. Eventually, he decided to open a shelter in the eastern part of the Aleppo governorate.

Unfortunately, the shelter was destroyed by Syrian and Russian missiles before falling under the control of the Syrian regime. Aljaleel had to leave everything behind, and lost the over 180 cats living at his shelter. In 2019, three years after the end of the battle for Aleppo, he returned to live in the western part of the city, establishing a new, bigger and better shelter than the one that came before it – the Aleppo Cat Sanctuary.

“I used to do everything on my own, but today we’re a team of six,” he says. “Three of us take care of the animals at the shelter, while I and two other paramedics go wherever we’re told an animal needs rescuing.” Aljaleel also regularly posts about his daily activities on the shelter’s Facebook page and keeps it up to date with press interviews. 

Thanks to social media, Aljaleel’s work has reached an international fanbase who helps fund his rescue project. The small financial support that Aljaleel receives from animal lovers around the world contributes to staffing, as well as buying food, vaccines and medicines for the cats.

In 2021, children’s book The Cat Man of Aleppo, won the Caldecott Honorary Award for illustrated books. Written by Syrian authors Karim Shamshi Pasha and Irene Latham and illustrated by cartoonist Yuko Shimizu, the book follows the story of Aljaleel, from his days as an ambulance driver early on in the Syrian Civil War, to the creation of his shelter.

“Animals always need us,” Aljaleel says. “All monotheistic religions urge us to be kind to animals.” Part of his work also involves educating his community about animal rights and what it takes to care for them. “I love what I do so much, and I wish I could see others doing it too.”

While Aljaleel has many supporters, he’s certainly faced a fair deal of criticism, too, as people often begrudge him for saving animal lives instead of humans. But negative feedback doesn’t discourage him from his work. “There are thousands of humanitarian organisations around the world helping people, but the number of animal rights organisations is much lower,” he says. “I’m proud of what I do and I hope that having mercy towards animals spreads among all human beings."