Help Feed Panglao’s Strays

The streets of Panglao island is home to thousands of stray and feral domestic animals, with the Alona Beach area alone playing host to hundreds. When tourism was bustling, these little critters got food from a variety of places like restaurants, resorts, workers' lodging houses and expat homes. Since opening day, our restaurant has served as both a foster home and feeding centre for many strays around the area.

The lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the general situation for these animals. The stoppage of tourism saw the closure of many businesses including restaurants and resorts, which led to a mass exodus among migrant workers and expats alike, leaving majority of stray animals hungry. We at Alona Hammocks Hostel and Shanti Shanty Vegan Restaurant, even while no longer doing regular business, elected to keep feeding the strays -- cats, in particular. We serve 2 meals a day, with different sets of feline clients each time. On a Thursday evening, for instance, it is perfectly normal to see 17 cats dining together. And being a vegan restaurant, we have to buy them cat food as we do not ourselves eat meat and thus have no food scraps to offer.

It has been 6 months since business came to a screeching halt. We have been taking from our own pockets and we are running out of resources, so we wish to appeal to animal-loving hearts from all over the world. Please help us keep these poor beings fed and healthy. In addition to providing food, we wish to expand our scope of service as well. Many of them have health issues and need veterinary care. We also intend to address the problem of stray animals more comprehensively by way of spaying and neutering these cats to prevent more kittens from being born homeless on the streets, forced to fend for themselves while posing a danger to the lives of road users.

Please help us help these animals. We have been trying to do it ourselves for the past several months, but now we need your help. Just for an idea of our costs, 5 EUR (6 USD) buys a kilo of cat food, which will last for 1 day for 20 cats (2 days, if mixed with an extender like mashed rice, which we sometimes do to stretch the limited resource and feed more cats). 30 EUR (36 USD) would pay for the neutering of a female cat and her necessary recovery medication, while 17 EUR (20 USD) would provide the same for a tom. 45 EUR (53 USD) would provide all vaccines (except rabies vaccine, as it's provided free by the government) as well as regular deworming for 4 months. If we have the resources, we won't only be limiting our help to just the cats who come. We will use the resources we receive to help others on the streets who need it. Any amount of donation will help.

Thank you so much for your kindness.