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•s',""
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.
n 2010, Ilene Lubin, a teacher,
trainer and sales consultant from
Metro Detroit, made aliyah with
her husband, native-Israeli Shimon
Amir.
The couple settled in Givat Ze'ev,
outside of Jerusalem. Lubin enrolled
in language school and enjoyed liv-
ing in the country, but found it hard
to adjust to one thing: "The cats," she
says. "I'd open a garbage can and cats
would jump out. There were cats in
front of my building. There was yowl-
ing and fighting — and the smell.
Why were there was so many cats?"
Lubin began to do some research.
She learned that Israel — about the
size of New Jersey — is home to an
estimated 2 million stray, feral cats.
These wild cats live short, painful
lives, averaging a life span of only two
years, but that is enough time for that
one cat to reproduce exponentially —
resulting in more than 3,200 kittens.
Lubin learned that there were sev-
eral animal organizations working
independently from one another. "We
wondered if it was a solvable problem:'
she says. "We love animals and cer-
tainly didn't want to see them killed or
poisoned. It became our goal to help
solve this problem in Israel:'
That was the genesis for Meow
Mitzvah Mission of Israel (MMM),
a nonprofit based in Michigan and
Israel, formed in 2011 to develop a
community-based feral cat manage-
ment program.
"Although the organization wants
to help the cats, it's all about improv-
ing community life. It's about making
Israel a cleaner place with a better
quality of life for the people who live
there"
Through her research, Lubin
learned that spaying and neutering
the wild cats alone wouldn't solve
the problem. To make a dent in the
population, 70 percent of feral cats
would need to be spayed and neu-
tered, an expensive and long-term
project.
"I knew we could only solve the
problem as a community:' says Lubin,
who moved back to Michigan last
year and works as an account execu-
tive at the Jewish News while continu-
ing her work with MMM.
She put together an advisory team,
who together designed a three-prong
approach to the cat epidemic. First,
educate the community. Second,
implement a spay-neutering and vac-
cination program and monitor the
Ilene Lubin
wild cat colonies to make sure any
unspayed "newcomers" got treated
(the left ear of each neutered cat is
cut to make it easy to see which cats
have been cared for). Finally, set
up monitored safety zones for these
cat colonies that keep them safe and
away from populated areas, provide
shelter and water during Israel's hot
summers.
"The municipality donates the
property for these safety zones. The
cats are in a much healthier state, and
the citizens won't have to deal with
the feral cats by their homes:' Lubin
says. "It's a win-win:'
Meow Mitzvah Mission is in its
infancy and has been helped along
by accountant John Rofel from Rofel
and Associates and attorney Michael
Eizelmann from Jackier and Gould,
who have been generous with their
time and reduced fees.
Lubin is eager to implement the
program in several pilot cities. For
a city the size of Givat Ze'ev, which
might have around 300 feral cats,
the cost to implement will be about
$15,000 or 50,000 shekels.
"When we can show that it works,
we expect the government will also
get involved with funding the pro-
gram," says Lubin.
The group's website, www.
meowmission.org, is now live and con-
tains ideas for mitzvah projects young
people can do to help the nonprofit as
well as an address for donations.
"No one person can solve this
problem:' Lubin says, "but a large
enough community working together
to follow this well-crafted plan can
succeed. It will mean a better life for
Israel's cats, the environment and
Israel's people:'
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