I first heard about Kattensvern at Dyreverndagen a few months ago. I heard a great talk by Jeanette Laxdal, one of the main people in the organisation. She has been working there since 2010, helping to find homes for many cats, fighting to get animal police in Bergen and spreading knowledge about how to look after cats conscientiously.
Since Kattensvern started in 2004 they have rehomed more than 3000 cats in Bergen and have worked outside of this to improve cats welfare and change common attitudes towards caring for pets for the better. As well as their rescue center they also have a shop in the city center and also conduct awareness-raising activities. There are a few excellent people that volunteer their time to take care of the cats and run the shop.
In Norway people often have a very old fashioned concept of what animals needs are, they think that is natural to not neuter the cat and let it live in the barn and hunt for its dinner. But the reality is that moden felines are just not equipped to be born into that type of lifestyle and all homeless cats in Norway need human help to survive, whether they're domestic cats, or so-called "wild cats".
The mission of Kattensvern is to find homes for homeless cats, work to sterilise/castrate cats (helping combat homeless kitties being brought into the world), to make sure that cats get proper medical care and vaccinations, to care for the cats that are currently homeless, to spread attitude enhancing information in the media, and to cooperate with animal welfare associations in Norway and abroad.
